The Reformation ushered in the time of civil and
religious liberty, of progress in every department of
human activity, of thorough investigation of every
branch of learning, of more sympathy with human
suffering, and of more zeal among enlightened
Christians for the spread of the Gospel among all the
nations of the earth. The Jews, as a nation, were
certainly not unaffected by it. For as the Reformation
purged a great part of the Western Church from image
worship, superstition, false doctrine and papal supremacy,
it at the same time removed some of the obstacles
in their way of entering a Christian Church. They
could go into any of the Reformed Churches and find
no images in them, and listen to the reading of their
own Scriptures, to the singing of their own Psalms,
and to sermons which were of a character to awaken
and to edify them. No wonder that Jewish voluntary
conversions to Christianity since the Reformation are
more numerous than in all the previous Christian
ages since the time of the Apostles.
In our list we properly place first the name of a Jew
who came in contact with the pious Count Zinzendorf.
The story is given by Professor F. Delitzsch.
Abraham, a rabbi, met the Count at Romseberg,
where the latter took refuge when he was expelled
from Saxony. After some conversation they got
attached to each other, so that R. Abraham once
invited the Count to dine with him on the Sabbath.
The Count accepted the invitation as readily as it
was given, and, cutting a slice from the loaf said,
"Tell me, Rabbi Abraham, if your hospitality is always
so ready; has it never been abused?" "Never, my
lord," answered the rabbi. "I shall not be tired of
giving as long as my hand has something to give.
It has been my custom from my youth up; and even
an apple never tastes as good as it does when I have
given a half to one poorer than myself. Besides, the
habit has been of great service to me." He then
told him how, one Sabbath day, a rough-looking man
came in and asked for alms. Not daring to touch
money on the Sabbath day, he invited him to dine
with the family. After the meal the man departed
with a gruff word of thanks. Not long afterwards
Abraham was passing through a forest, when robbers
seized him and nearly killed him, and, while on his
knees recommending his soul to God, another robber
came up and called out, "Rabbi Abraham, do you
not know me? A man who fed me when I was
hungry shall not die thus." And, thrusting a piece of
gold into the old man's hand, he drew his companions
away with him into the forest, leaving the rabbi to
pursue his journey. These two tried men became
after this even greater friends than before. The
Count, like Philip of old, declared unto him the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rabbi Abraham became a
believer, attended the services of the Moravian
Brethren, but remained still unbaptized. When he at
last lay on his sick bed, Leonard Dober, one of the
Count's assistants, came to visit him. "Welcome, dear
brother," said he, "at my last hour. You sought me
for years in the Lord's name, with love and kind
words; and see I have been found. My end is near;
so is my salvation. Will the Lord accept one who
comes to Him at the last hour, even though he
approaches His Throne without the sacrament of
baptism?" "Yes," said Dober, "decidedly, as surely
as it is written, 'Him that cometh unto Me I will in
no wise cast out!'" "Blessed be the Holy One of
Israel for that word," said the dying man. Then he
called for his son Zadok and blessed him; and the
last word they heard was, "Hallelujah!"
Abrahams, Rev. George, Minister of the Regent
Street Chapel, London, in the first half of the
eighteenth century.
Abramson, a famous medal engraver, born in Potsdam,
Prussia, in 1754, died in 1811. He was a royal
medallist and a member of the Academy of Arts. He
wrote on the taste for medals and numismatics, 1801.
Abrahamson, Rev. A. E., B.A., Oxon., Rector of
Skilgate, Wiveliscombe. A convert of the L.J.S.,
carrying on occasionally a mission to Jews in Russia
by correspondence.
Adam, Michael, a convert at Zürich, + 1550,
translated into Judæo-German "Josephus' War," the
Pentateuch, the five Megilloth, viz., The Song of Solomon,
Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther.
In this work he was supported by Paulus Fagius.
Adler, Rev. August Carl, a native of Höchst in Hesse
Darmstadt, convert and missionary of the L.J.S. After
special training in the Hebrew Missionary College, he
laboured for a short time at Bucharest and at Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
and after 1872 he had the charge of the
mission at Amsterdam, where he laboured with great
ability and success. He died there September 15, 1907.
At his funeral the Mayor of Amsterdam said that his
life left a lustre which would be a guide to many. He
testified that Adler had engraven the truth in the
hearts of those who knew him.
Adler, Rev. J., after his baptism, studied at Basel,
then in Operative Jewish Converts' Institution. He
was a devoted missionary of the Mildmay Mission from
its beginning until he died. He was well beloved by
all who came in contact with him. He translated the
New Testament into Yiddish.
Adler, a brother of the above, did for a time
evangelistic work among the Jews in the Baltic
Provinces. His daughter is now the wife of a
clergyman in Australia.
Adrian, of Emden, embraced Christianity in 1607
at Frankfort. He wrote an hortatory letter to the
Jews of Wittenberg in 1609, exhorting them to repent
and believe in the Saviour.
Adrianus, Mathaeus, a convert in Germany, well
known to Erasmus. He was professor of Hebrew,
wrote an Introduction to the Hebrew language, and
a prayer entitled, "Hora pro Domino."
Agoshe, a Falasha convert of the L.J.S. in Abyssinia.
He was won to the Saviour through the instrumentality
of Mr. Flad and Mr. Bronkhorst, and was baptized
with 21 others in 1862. During the imprisonment of
the missionaries he ministered to their wants by
supplying them secretly at night with food. After
they were released, he went to study at St. Chrischona,
in Basel, but the climate did not agree with him. In
1873 he returned to Abyssinia and with Samony
founded a school at the station of Asseso, laboured
there with great fidelity, and bore testimony for
Christ before all classes. God owned and crowned
his labours, for on one Sunday ten Falashas were
baptized, amongst whom were some of his relations.
Alamy, or Alomy Debtera, another Abyssinian
convert of the L.J.S., had his sphere of labour at
Dagusu.
Alexander, John, an English Jewish convert in the
seventeenth century, wrote after his baptism a book
entitled, "Covenant Displayed," in which he shewed his
brethren that the covenant of God with Israel is only
realized in Christ Jesus.
Alexander, John, was for many years an agent of
the Bible Society at the Crystal Palace, and did good
work there. He laboured also with the writer and
the late Mr. Mamlock at the Paris Exhibition in
1879. He accompanied the Rev. Frederick Smith to
St Petersburg in 1874, when they obtained permission
to reopen the Mission in Poland. Alexander wrote a
number of articles for the "Scattered Nation" and for
"Good Words," and a book entitled "The Jews, their
Past, Present, and Future" (London, 1870).
Alexander, Michael Solomon, first Protestant
Bishop in Jerusalem,[5] was born of Jewish parents in
Schönlanke, a small manufacturing town in the grand
duchy of Posen in May 1799. He was trained in
the strictest and straitest principles of rabbinical and
orthodox Judaism. At the age of sixteen he became
a teacher of the Talmud and of the German language.
In 1820, when in his twenty-first year, he came to
England to engage in a similar pursuit, and also to
perform the duties of a shochet. At that time, as he
said, he had not the slightest acquaintance with
Christianity, and did not even know of the existence
of the New Testament. His knowledge of Christ
was limited to strong impressions of prejudice against
the Holy Name. Disappointed of a situation in
London, he settled down as a tutor at Colchester.
There the sight of a handbill of the London Jews'
Society, notifying its Annual Meeting, aroused his
curiosity, and he obtained and read the New Testament.
Shortly afterwards he accepted the post of
rabbi at Norwich, and subsequently at Plymouth, and
in 1821 he married Miss Levy of that town. He
there, in the providence of God, became acquainted
with the Rev. B. B. Golding, curate of Stonehouse, to
whom he gave lessons in Hebrew, and from the
conversations which ensued from time to time, Alexander,
after much inward conflict, almost came to the
conviction of the truth of Christianity. The struggle
was now almost heart-rending. He used to steal
silently down to Stonehouse Church on Sunday
evenings, and, under the shadow of its walls, would
stand riveted to the spot, while he listened to the
songs of Christian praise, in which he dared not as
yet take part. His congregation, however, soon got
to hear of his leanings to Christianity, and he was
suspended from his duties as rabbi. He now regularly
attended Mr. Golding's ministry, and was eventually
baptized, on June 22, 1825, in St. Andrew's Church,
Plymouth, in the presence of 1,000 people. His wife,
who had been a secret enquirer, unknown to her
husband, was baptized six months later in Exeter.
Owing to Alexander's position, his conversion aroused
much interest, and proved a great encouragement to
all workers in the cause. He was ordained deacon in
Dublin, in 1827, by Archbishop Magee, at a time
when the ordination of a Hebrew Christian was of
very rare occurrence indeed, and appointed to a small
charge in that city. In December of the same year
he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Kildare, and
joined the London Jews' Society, which he served as
missionary, in Danzig, from 1827 to 1830, and in
London from 1830 to 1841.
One of the most interesting incidents in his work
in Prussia was a visit to his birthplace, and the
meeting with his brother, a rabbi to a large congregation
near Posen. We quote the future Bishop's own
words, as shewing his humbleness of mind, and how
fully he had left Judaism behind, and entered into
the joys of his new faith.
"I cannot describe my feelings on finding myself
now in Posen, my native country, when I reflect on
the wonderful dealings of the Lord with me since I
left this place nine years ago. I was then a wandering
sheep from my Saviour's fold, walking in darkness,
and in the shades of death, ignorant of the Lord that
bought me. How did He lead me? the blind by a
way that I knew not. My soul doth magnify the
Lord, because my spirit rejoiceth in my God, as my
Saviour, especially when I consider I am now engaged
as an humble, but unworthy, instrument to preach the
glad tidings of salvation, and to declare to my
brethren, what the Lord hath done for my soul.
When my prospects of usefulness are dark, I look to
my Lord, and say, 'Thy grace is sufficient for me;
Thy strength is made perfect in my weakness.'
"The Lord gave me another gracious token of
His mercy at Posen. I wrote to my brother, who is
rabbi to the large Jewish congregation twelve miles
from Posen, informing him of my arrival, and
requesting that we might have a meeting. I had very
faint hopes of his compliance, as he had been most
bitter against me since my baptism. His letter,
however, expressed a wish to meet me half way from
Posen. I immediately set off, and had the unspeakable
satisfaction of embracing my brother, not as an
enemy, even for the Gospel's sake, but full of brotherly
love and affection, and even giving me credit for
sincerity. I stated to him the Gospel, and declared
also to him an account of the hope that was in me.
He acknowledged that he had not given the subject
due consideration, but he promised he would. He
told me what is very important, viz., that it is
generally expected among the Jews, that the coming
generation will embrace Christianity, and that Judaism
is fast dying away. Time would not allow him to be
much with us, and we parted, praying together that
the Lord would open his eyes to behold His glory, as
it shines in the face of Jesus, and that we may both be
united in His love, and become brothers in Christ."[6]
In his work in London, Alexander frequently
preached to Jews, and took an active part in the
revision of the New Testament in Hebrew and the
translation of the Liturgy into the same language.
He held the post of Professor of Hebrew and Rabbinical
Literature in King's College, London, from 1832
to 1841. In 1840 Professor Alexander's name
appeared at the head of some sixty names of leading
converts from Judaism, who had subscribed to a
formal "protest of Christian Jews in England"
against the Blood Accusation, or charge against the
Jews of using Christian blood in their passover rites.
This was a remarkable document, emanating as it did
from so many who were by nationality Jews, and who
had lived to maturity in the faith and practice of
modern Judaism.
Just at this juncture an event took place which
then and since aroused considerable commotion in
the religious world at home, the establishment of the
Anglican Bishopric at Jerusalem.
Dr. McCaul, to whom the Bishopric was first offered,
declined it on the ground that a Hebrew Christian
ought to occupy the position. Consequently, Alexander
was selected and consecrated, as first Bishop
of the new See, on Sunday, November 7, 1841, in
Lambeth Palace, by Dr. Howley, Archbishop of
Canterbury, assisted by Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of
London, Dr. Murray, Bishop of Rochester, and Dr.
Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand. A distinguished
company was present, including his Excellency the
Chevalier Bunsen, as representing the King of Prussia;
Sir Stratford Canning, Her Majesty's Ambassador
Extraordinary to the Porte; Baron Schleinitz,
Prussian Chargé d'Affaires; the Prussian Consul-General
Hebeler; Lord Ashley; the Right Hon.
W. E. Gladstone; the Right Hon. Dr. Nicholl; Sir
Robert H. Inglis; Sir Claudius Hunter, and the Rev.
Dr. Abeken, Chaplain to the King of Prussia. The
sermon was preached by Dr. McCaul from the
appropriate text of Isa. lii. 7, "How beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good
tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith
unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"
The next morning the Holy Communion was
celebrated in the Episcopal Jews' Chapel by the new
Bishop, who preached his last sermon before his
departure from England, in the evening, from the
appropriate, and, as subsequent circumstances proved,
pathetic words, "And now, behold, I go bound in the
spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that
shall befall me there," &c. (Acts xx. 22-24). On the
13th a farewell meeting was held, and an address
presented to the Bishop, who with Mrs. Alexander,
the Rev. G. Williams, his private chaplain, the Rev. F. C.
and Mrs. Ewald, and Dr. E. Macgowan, sailed from
Portsmouth, on December 7. H.M. Steam Frigate
'Devastation' was granted for the purpose by the
Government. The party arrived off Beyrout on January
14, 1842, and reached Jerusalem on January 21.
The entry of the Bishop into Jerusalem was a
unique event in the history of the Holy City, and was
thus described by himself:—"On Friday evening we
arrived in the city of our forefathers under circumstances
of peculiar respect and honour.... We
formed quite a large body—the Consul-General
(Colonel Rose), with seven or eight of his escort;
Captain Gordon, and six or seven of the officers of the
"Devastation"; Mr. Nicolayson and Mr. Bergheim,
who met us at Jaffa, and accompanied us; Mr. Johns
and the American missionaries, with escorts, who
came to meet us about three miles from Jerusalem;
and, at last, the chief officers sent by the Pasha, who
had himself come to meet us in the afternoon, but
was obliged to return, as night came on, and it was
damp (we arrived about six o'clock), and a troop of
soldiers, headed by Arab music, which is something
like the beating of a tin kettle. Thus we entered
through the Jaffa gate, under the firing of salutes, &c.,
into Jerusalem, and were conducted to Mr. Nicolayson's
house, where we were most kindly and hospitably
received, and all felt overwhelmed with gratitude and
adoration.... We had service in the temporary
chapel on Sunday last. I preached my first sermon
from Isaiah lx. 15; Mr. Williams preached in the
afternoon, and Mr. Nicolayson conducted a German
service in the evening. We had a very good
congregation, all our friends, the Consul-General,
Captain Gordon, and the officers, being present. Our
feelings on the occasion can be better imagined than
expressed, as you may easily suppose. We also had
the Sacrament, and it will be pleasing to the ladies
of Reading to know, that the handsome communion-service
which they presented to the church was made
use of for the first time by the Bishop of Jerusalem."[7]
The Times contained a full account of the Bishop's
entry, and concluded with these words:—"The
Mission is sure of the firm support of the British
Government and the British Ambassador at the Porte.
As regards Syria, the Consul-General has lent all the
force of his official authority, personal influence, and
popularity, to set the undertaking afloat, while the
mild and benevolent character of the Bishop, and the
sound practical sense and valuable local experience
of his coadjutor, Mr. Nicolayson, are sure guarantees
that caution, charity, and conciliation will preside at
all their efforts."
In conformity with instructions received from
Constantinople, proclamation was made in the
mosques, that "he who touches the Anglican
Bishop will be regarded as touching the apple of the
Pasha's eye."
The presence of the Bishop was soon felt in work
amongst the Jews in Jerusalem. The daily services
held in the temporary chapel on Mount Zion were a
source of much delight to him, and also the large
congregations. The Bishop thus summed up his
episcopal duties for the first year: "We have had
every ordinance of our Church performed in our
chapel." The Bishop had held his first ordination on
March 17, had baptized a Jew on Whitsun Day, and
confirmed eight Hebrew Christians; married two
converts; finishing up with the ordination of a
Hebrew Christian missionary. The upper room
proved all too small, and the building of the London
Society's permanent church, which was to serve the
joint purposes of a Cathedral, a chapel for British
residence, and a mission centre, was proceeded with,
although Alexander did not live to see its consecration.
His episcopate was destined to be a very brief one,
but its three years may well be described as "years
of plenty." His letters shew how ardently he threw
himself into his work, and how very near his heart it
was. Outlying districts of his extensive diocese were
visited; and the outlook was bright and promising.
A great blow fell upon the work in the autumn of
1845, in his sudden death, on Nov. 26, after the short
episcopate of four years. The sad event occurred in
the desert at Ras-el-Wady, on his way to visit Egypt,
which formed a part of the diocese of Jerusalem. A
pathetic interest attaches to the Bishop's last annual
letter, written before he started for Cairo, in which,
speaking of his arrangements, he alluded to the
"uncertainty of everything."
As to the past he spoke with conscious satisfaction
of the Divine blessing resting upon the work of Jewish
converts baptized and confirmed, and amicable intercourse
maintained with Jewish residents and strangers
in Jerusalem, of opportunities at Jaffa, of his visit to
Damascus, and of friendly relations maintained with
the different churches. He thus concluded: "On the
whole we have great reason to thank God and take
courage, and to call upon our friends to join with us
in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, on the
memorable day, January 21, when we made our first
entry into the Holy City. A day which is much to
be remembered, even when the results, which have
already followed in this short period, be alone taken
into consideration; but a day which we trust will yet
prove one of the most remarkable in the history of
the Church, when the Lord 'shall build up Zion, and
appear in His glory,' and when all, who now mourn for
her, seeing her desolate and trodden down, shall
rejoice for joy with her; and when God's people shall
be delighted with the abundance of her glory."
Mrs. Alexander thus described the Bishop's last days
in the desert at Belveis, Nov. 3, 1845: "On setting
out through the desert, each day my beloved husband
and myself rode our own horses; we generally were
in advance of the caravan, and we used regularly to
chant some of our Hebrew chants, and sang the
following hymns: 'Children of the Heavenly King;'
'Long has the Harp of Judah hung;' Psalm cxi.;
'Glorious things of thee are spoken;' all out of our
own hymn-book; and never did his warm and tender
heart overflow so fully, as when he spoke of Israel's
future restoration. When I spoke to him about his
duties in England, he answered, 'I hope, if invited,
to preach my first sermon in England at the Episcopal
Jews' Chapel;' and on my asking what subject he
would take, he replied, 'I shall resume the subject I
adopted when I last left that dear congregation;'
namely, that none of these trials had moved him.
(Acts xx. 24-28.)"
His chaplain, the Rev. W. D. Veitch, reporting the
death, said: "It was truly a heart-rending scene. In
a tent, in the wild sandy desert, no medical help at
hand, to see the widowed wife and fatherless daughter
bending over the lowly pallet, on which were
stretched the lifeless remains."
"The immediate cause of death," wrote Mrs. Leider,
who formed one of the party, "was rupture of one of
the largest bloodvessels near the heart; but the whole
of the lungs, liver, and heart, were found in an
exceedingly diseased state, and had been so for a
length of time; the accelerating cause, doubtless, was
great and continued anxiety—such as the Bishopric
of Jerusalem and its cares can best account for. I
heard it said on this occasion that had his lordship not
come into the East, he might possibly have lived to a
good old age; but the mitre of Jerusalem, like the
wreath of our blessed Lord, has been to him a crown
of thorns."
The body was taken first to Cairo, where Mr.
Veitch preached the funeral sermon from the most
appropriate text that could have been chosen—"So
Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land
of Moab" (Deut. xxxiv. 5).
On December 6, a mournful caravan set out from
Cairo with the Bishop's remains, recalling the sad
procession which returned to the Promised Land with
the bones of Joseph. The cortège arrived at Jerusalem
on the 20th of the same month, at seven o'clock in
the evening, and proceeded at once to the English
cemetery, where, by torchlight, the remains of the
beloved and venerated prelate were deposited in their
last resting place, the Rev. J. Nicolayson reading the
service. Funeral sermons were preached by him in
Jerusalem the next day, and in the Episcopal Jews'
Chapel, London, on December 28, by the Rev. J. B.
Cartwright.
A letter of condolence to Mrs. Alexander, signed
by thirty-one Jewish converts at Jerusalem, was the
most eloquent testimony to the blessing which had
followed the successful labours of the Bishop. The
signatories said: "Next to yourself and your dear
family, we consider ourselves the chief mourners; for
we feel both collectively and individually that we have
lost not only a true Father in Christ, but also a loving
brother and a most kind friend. The suavity and
benignity of his manner, which so greatly endeared
him to all, and which gained him the highest and
most entire filial confidence of every one of us, tend
much to increase the keen sense we feel of our loss.
The affectionate love he bore to Israel, which peculiarly
characterised him, could not fail to render him beloved
by every one who had the privilege of being
acquainted with him: while his exalted piety, and
most exemplary life and conversation, inspired the
highest reverential esteem. He was a burning and a
shining light; and when he was raised to the highest
dignity in the Church, he conferred the most conspicuous
honour on our whole nation, but especially on
the little band of Jewish believers. With him captive
Judah's brightest earthly star has set, and the top
stone has been taken away from the rising Hebrew
Church."
We do not think that any more expressive words
of the sterling quality of the Bishop's character could
have been penned than these. And yet we should
like to supplement them.
Many friends testified their love and esteem for the
Bishop by raising a most gratifying testimonial to his
memory, amounting to over £3,000, which was
handed to his widow and family. It is interesting to
glance at the list of contributors after this lapse of
time, for it reveals the fact that the Bishop was highly
esteemed by rich and poor alike. Amongst the
former we notice the names of the Dowager Queen
Adelaide, the then Archbishops of Canterbury and
Armagh, and the Bishops of London, Winchester,
Ripon, Lichfield, Lincoln, Peterborough, Llandaff,
Sodor and Man, and Madras. The Primate of All
England spoke of Alexander having conducted the
affairs of his Church with so much discretion and
prudence, as to give no cause of complaint to the
heads of other communions residing in the same city,
and to win their respect and esteem by his piety
and beneficence, and by his persevering yet temperate
zeal in prosecuting the objects of his mission.
He lived and worked in constant dependence upon
the Holy Spirit whose power he conspicuously
honoured. It was his invariable practice to impress
upon those whom he was about to teach the absolute
impossibility of their understanding divine things
without His aid. This was as noticeable in his earlier
years as missionary, as in his later ones as bishop.
His conciliatory manner in dealing with Jews, his
transparent love for his brethren, his calmness amidst
opposition, did much to disarm the excited assembly
at the Conferences in Aldermanbury, and the violent
attitude of the mob when he revisited his Jewish
relatives at Schönlanke. He was bold and fearless in
the delivery of his message, faithful in everything,
anxious above all things to bear testimony to the
name and glory of his Master, and to make full proof
of his ministry, whether as missionary or bishop.
His friends, and those who worked under him at
Jerusalem, loved him for his kind nature—for he had
an ear, heart, and purse open to all—and for his
simple-hearted piety. He was an Israelite indeed in
whom there was no guile. He had a ripeness of
Christian experience, and unaffected earnestness of
purpose. His was a strikingly interesting personality,
rendered doubly so in that he was a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, and in his episcopal dignity a link with the
primitive Hebrew Christian Church in the Mother
City of Christendom.
The Bishop published: "The Hope of Israel," 1831;
The "Glory of Mount Zion," 1839; "The Flower that
Fadeth," "Memoir of Sarah Alexander," 1841.
Alexanderson, Daniel, was baptized in Holland in
1621. He published in the Syriac (rabbinic) language
a confession of faith, to which he appended an
epistle to the dispersed Jews, asking them to accept
Jesus as their Saviour. This was translated into
Dutch, German, and French by Petrus Jacobi,
(Amsterdam, 1642).
Alman, Rev. S., a minister of the Gospel in
New York.
Althausen, Dr., son of a well-known rabbi in Russia.
After studying medicine at Lemberg he was appointed
as military doctor in Russia. At the age of 35 he
was converted and baptized by Pastor Landesen, in
Charkow, in 1855, and his wife and children followed
his example a year or two afterwards. He then
devoted himself to missionary work in St. Petersburg
and in other cities, and did good work, notably in
spreading the New Testament which was plentifully
supplied to him by the late Rev. John Wilkinson, of
the Mildmay Mission.
Altmann, J., a convert of the L.J.S., baptized by the
Rev. F. G. Kleinhenn, at Bucharest, now labouring
for many years as an evangelist in Transsylvania,
Hungary.
Altschiller, L., son of the Rabbi of Morcompol,
had received the tract "Life of Augusti," which made a
great impression upon him. He was instructed by
Goldinger of the L.J.S., and was baptized in Poland
in 1848.
Amsden, of Vermont, a convert and missionary to
the Jews in the United States about 1850.
Angel, Rev. B., convert and missionary to the
Jews in New York.
Anton, Carl (Moses Gershon Cohen), a descendant
of Bartenora Hayim Vital, born in Mitau (Curland),
in 1722, of a family called "the Golden Chains." After
studying for seven years at Prague, under Jonathan
Eibenschütz, he travelled in the East and became very
ill at Constantinople. It was there when reading
Dan. ix. that he began to think seriously as to the state
of his soul. On his return to Germany he was baptized
at Wolfenbuttel by Pastor Meyers in 1748. The
Duke of Brunswick appointed him Professor of Hebrew
at Helmstadt. He wrote a Latin tract, "The
Wandering Jew," entitled "Commentatio Historica de
Judæo Immortali in qua haec Fabula examinatur
et confutatur," Helmstadt, 1756; translated
Abraham Jaegel's Catechism, "Lekah Tob" (Good
Instruction), Brunswick, 1756; and gave a description
of a rare copy of "Shulhan Aruk Eben haezer," to be
found in manuscript in the City Library, Hamburg.
He also wrote "Fabulae Antiquitatum Ebraicum
Veterum," &c., Brunswick, 1756. Also "Sammlung
Einiger Rabbinischer Oden Nebst Einer Frayen
Uebersetzung, Kurzer entworf Jüdescher Gebräuche
Akademischer Vorlesungen entworfen," three parts,
Brunswick, 1752-1754.
In the preface to his book, "Wahre Gründe, welche
Einen Juden Zur wahren Bekehrung, oder zum
Heilande der welt Jesu Christo führen Können," he
utters the following fervent prayer:
"At the conclusion of my work, I humbly invoke the
righteous and merciful Father, that He may enlighten
all Israel with the light from on high, that they may
with a pure heart acknowledge Jesus as the only
means of their future life. O that they might see in
the stem of Jesse the tree of life, and be inflamed
with love to Him by the Omnipotent Spirit! O that
they might at last acknowledge the Son of Mary as
the fountain of salvation out of which they can draw
grace for grace! O that they might seek a refuge in the
long ago appeared Lion out of the tribe of Judah, who
has destroyed the dominion of Satan and restored
eternal peace! O that they might kiss with lips and
heart the glorified Son whom their fathers so carelessly
rejected, but who has become the precious Cornerstone,
who after achieving His triumph ascended to sit at the
right hand of the Father and praised by the whole host
of heaven. O triune God, open thou their eyes, that
they may see." ("A Fürst. Christen und Juden," 163).
Pastor de le Roi mentions a rumour that Anton at
last relapsed into Judaism, but this must have arisen
because he defended Jacob Emden and his former
teacher Eibenschutz in their dispute with Waggenseil.
Dr. S. A. Hirsch, Professor in Jews' College, London,
who wrote the article in the "Jewish Encyclopædia"
and referred to Grätz, does not give a syllable about
Anton's relapse.
Argawi, M., convert and leading missionary of the
L.J.S. in Abyssinia. He has laboured there for many
years amidst great hardships and even amidst
martyrdoms of his believing brethren. (See the
little tract, "Martyrs of Jesus.")
Arias, E. P., missionary of the L.J.S. at Rome for
many years.
Arnhold, Siegfried Heinrich, D.Ph., embraced
Christianity at Berlin in 1854. He was Professor of
the Polytechnic in that city, and died as such in 1884.
Assing, David Assur, born at Königsberg, 1787,
died 1842, was baptized in 1815. He was physician
and poet; served first in the Russian and then in
the Prussian army. He wrote a treatise entitled,
"Materiae Alimentariae Leneamenta ad leges
Chemico-Dynamicas Adumbrata" ("Food and their
Relation to Chemical-Dynamical Laws.") This was
published at Göttingen in 1809.
Asser, M. E., a convert, councillor at the Ministry
of Justice in Holland.
Augsburger, Emmanuel, baptized by Gottheil at
Stuttgart in 1852, a first-fruit of the mission there.
Though only a working weaver by trade, he accomplished
much good by his voluntary testimony
and by his exemplary life. (See Jewish Herald,
1853 and 1886).
August, Jacob Michael, baptized with his wife and
children in Greifswald, Germany, about 1723. He
became Lector (reader) of Oriental languages at the
University of Leipzig.
Augusti, Friedrich Albert (Joshua), was born at
Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1691. He was the son of
Joshua ben Abraham Eschel and Rebecca Pinto,
descendants of a Venetian family. When he was
only seven years old he shewed already great talents
for learning, and delivered a sermonette at a wedding,
so that a savant present remarked: "This boy will
be a teacher in Israel." But as a precocious
child he had to be guarded against mischief.
Once he nearly lost his life while bathing. After
the death of his father, Augusti, having read a
book which described the glory of Jerusalem,
felt a great desire to go there, and it soon so
happened that a Jerusalem delegate, Aron Bar
Jekutiel, arrived at Frankfort, and offered to take him
with him. The mother, after some resistance to the
boy's entreaties, finally gave her consent and parted
with him in sorrow. The two travellers went first to
Russia, intending to go by the Black Sea to Constantinople
and then to Jerusalem. In the Crimea a
band of robbers overtook them at a lonely spot, and
Augusti was taken captive, while his companion
managed to escape. The robbers brought him to a
town and sold him as a slave for three and a-half
dollars. After severe trials on board a ship, where he
was tempted to embrace Mohammedanism, the slave
dealer sold him to a Mohammedan Jew by the name
of Ismael Bathmag, who brought him to Smyrna.
Here the Jewish community purchased his freedom
from slavery for 100 dollars, and after six months sent
him home. On his homeward journey he stopped at
Kaminice, where he was dangerously ill with cholera.
After his recovery he eventually came to Cracow,
where he remained four years studying languages.
From thence he went to Prague and devoted himself
to the study of Jewish theology under Rabbi Gabriel,
who conferred upon him the title of Morenu, D.D.
He then interpreted the famous grammarian, Binyan
Shelomo. Returning to Frankfort, he saw his mother,
who desired him to get married and settle down, but
he felt impelled to go to Italy in order to study
Kabbalistic lore there. While living in Sonderhasen,
in 1720, he was maltreated by a gang of robbers, who
broke into the house in which he resided, and
robbed him and his landlord to the amount of
20,000 dollars. It then so happened that a member of
the princely family of Schwarzburg died, when the
Court Jew Wallich, in expressing his condolence with
the reigning prince, used the expression "der
hochselige Prinz" with reference to the deceased.
Whereupon the prince charged him with flattery, as
he did not think that the Jews believed that a Christian
could be saved. Wallich then brought Augusti, who
proved from the "Sefer Hasidim" that a pious Christian
who keeps the seven Noachian Commandments
has a share in the world to come. This incident was
in the providence of God the first means in Augusti's
conversion. On that occasion Dr. Reinhardt, an
evangelical pastor, was present, and they became
acquainted with each other. This led later to
discussions about the interpretation of Isaiah liii.
Augusti, after much searching in Jewish commentaries,
was convinced that this chapter speaks of a person
and that Jesus is the one in whom it was fulfilled.
Before his baptism he made an open confession in the
synagogue of his faith in Christ, and he was baptized
on Christmas Day, 1722, in the presence of Prince
Gunther and the whole court officials. After his
baptism he delivered an address on Ps. ix. 2, in which
he expressed his thanksgiving for God's wonderful
dealing with him. Soon after he began to study
theology at the Seminary of Gotha. In 1727, he went
to Jena, and afterward to Leipzig. He was appointed
Assistant Professor of the Gymnasium at Gotha, in
1729, and in 1734 became minister of the parish of
Eschberge, in which position he remained until his
death. The famous theologian, Johann Christi
Wilhelm Augusti, was his grandson. Augusti
published several works in Latin and German, notably
"Das Geheimnis des Sambathian." ("The Mystery of
the Sambathian," a fabulous river mentioned in the
Talmud, which casts stones during six days in the
week and rests on the Sabbath.) He also published
a work on the Karaites.
Baba, M. D. M., a convert of the L.J.S. in Persia.
Bach, Daniel Friedrich, born in Potsdam, 1756,
died in 1830, studied in the Art Academy of Berlin.
The year of his embracing Christianity is not mentioned.
He became a famous painter. (Brockhaus
Conv. Lex. I. 99).
Bachert, Rev. S. T., A.K.C., convert and missionary
of the L.J.S. After his ordination he was curate of
St. Matthew's, Marylebone, St. John's, Kilburn, and
St. Michael's and All Angel's, South Hackney,
London. He was appointed as head of the mission
in Hamburg in 1874, where he laboured with evident
divine approval for about a quarter of a century. He
was the founder of a home for enquirers, with a
workshop, as well as of a chapel attached to it, where
the inmates studied, worked, lodged, worshipped, and
were under a well-organized Christian training. A very
large number found eternal peace there, and quite a
considerable number became ministers and evangelists
of the Gospel. Bachert was afterwards promoted to be
the Head of the Missionary Training College in London,
and when this was given up, he was sent to take
charge of the mission in the north of England. The
story of his conversion is a very pathetic one.
Baffral, James, a prolific statistical writer, baptized
at Strasburg on Christmas Day, 1859; his wife (née
Levy) and five children two years later. The relations,
after the death of the father, tried their utmost to
bring the children back to Judaism, and they appealed
to the law of the land, but failed. One of the
daughters afterward became superintendent of the
Deaconesses' Institution.
Balaghi, F., Professor of Theology in Hungary, was
a pupil of Theodor Meyer when he was stationed
at Prague.
Bahn, Martin August, a Berlin Jewish student,
embraced Christianity when he was under the teaching
and influence of Schleiermacher, in 1837.
Bahri, Rev. Joseph, convert of the British Society
at Stuttgart; laboured for several years as missionary
of the L.J.S. at Vienna, and then as curate to Bishop
Billing in the Parish Church of Spitalfields, and then
curate of Hoby and Rotherby where he died at the
age of 43. He was a spiritually-minded man and a
fervent preacher, and cherished boundless love for
his nation.
Ballin, Josef, a well-known historical painter, a
native of Weener, Ostfriesland, was baptized by Pauli
of the L.J.S. when stationed at Berlin about 1843.
Barnett, Henry. The following is his own account
of himself:—
"For twenty years I lived with my parents in a
small town in Poland, called Konin. These years
were entirely spent in the study of tradition and
religion, as it had been my father's desire to preserve
'law and religion' for the youngest of his family, the
other members following in the pursuit of business.
In those years I knew not the nature of sin. The
New Testament I never saw with my eyes; such
words as the 'gospel' and 'missionary' were not at
all in my vocabulary. I was going on with the religion
of my fathers in pride and conceit, yet weeping over
sin and pleading for mercy and pardon, though I did
not know how hideous sin was in the sight of God,
neither did it ever enter my mind to ask myself
whether I obtained those things I so earnestly sought
for from God. Satisfied with the religious duties
of my life whilst sin was doing its work, and priding
myself in being engaged in a higher capacity than the
mere ordinary trade or business man of the Jewish
community. When I was about twenty-one years
of age I left my home to avoid military conscription.
Before I left I prepared myself for occupying a
position among the Jews as a 'slaughterer' in
connexion with the synagogue. I did not succeed in
this, not being a good singer for conducting public
prayers. Reaching London, there seemed only one
thing to do, viz., to learn a trade in order to maintain
myself. Whilst learning a trade amongst my Jewish
brethren I also learned 'Sabbath-breaking,' gradually
gave up the morning and evening prayers, and went
more and more into sin.
"In a wonderful way the Lord brought me under
the influence of the Gospel. On the voyage from
Hamburg to Hull I met with a Jew who professed
Christianity. I met him about six months later in
London, and made occasional calls upon him. While
I was doing this my heart went often up to God to
deliver me from taking a wrong step. I only knew
then the opinion of Jews regarding the Jewish
missionary and his enterprises. I felt then that whatever
the man himself might be, what he proclaims
was not to be despised, and I attended the Gospel
meetings at spare times with a kind of double feeling.
I began to read the New Testament, and 'faith came
by hearing' before two years (1873) expired after my
being under the sound of the Gospel. I knew that I
was a sinner, according to Psalm li. I learned the
meaning of Ezekiel xxxiii. 13. I found the true
Messiah of Isaiah liii., and understood that Christ died
for me. I 'believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was
saved' (Acts xvi. 31). Since 1882 I have been
enabled, like Saul of Tarsus, to cry, 'Lord what wilt
Thou have me to do?' (Acts ix. 6)."
Baron, Rev. David, was likewise for many years in
the Mildmay Mission and companion to Barnett in
his travels. He is the founder of the Mission under
the title, "Hebrew Christian Testimony for Israel."
He is known as a good expositor of Scripture and is
author of several books relating to the Jews.
Bartholdy, Jacob Levi Salomo, was uncle on the
mother's side to Felix Mendelssohn born, in Berlin,
1779, died in Rome, 1826. He became a member of the
Protestant Church in 1805, and through his influence
the whole Mendelssohn family became Christians.
He served as an officer in the Prussian army, and in
1815 he was appointed consul-general in Rome. He
wrote treatises on modern Greek, a description of the
Terolese war, and "Traits from the life of Cardinal
Consalvi." The Berlin Museum possesses his
collection of antiquities, comprising Etruscan vases,
bronzes, ivories, majolicas, etc., which are now displayed
in the National Gallery.
Basevi, George Joshua, architect, followed the
example of his brother-in-law Isaac Disraeli, in
leaving the synagogue in 1817. But it must be stated
that no writer expressly asserts that either of the two
were received into the Church by baptism. This is
known, that Basevi while inspecting the bell-tower
of Ely Cathedral fell and was killed instantly, and then
received Christian burial in the chapel at the east end
of the Cathedral.
Bassin, Eliezer, born about 1840 in the government
of Moghilev, Russia. In 1869 he went to Constantinople,
and then after experiencing God's wonderful
dealings with him (so graphically described by Miss
Stern in her book "Eliezer") he made a public confession
of his faith in Christ. He was afterwards a
student of the L.J.S. Training College at Palestine
Place, and was sent out as a missionary to Jassy,
Roumania, by the same Society. Later he laboured
for some years in Edinburgh, under a Scotch Society.
He was the author of a work entitled, "The Modern
Hebrew and the Hebrew Christian," London, 1882,
which contains an autobiography, relating his experience
after deserting from the Russian army, and
information about the Hasidim, especially the
sect "Habad." Also "A Finger-post to the Way of
Salvation," 1882. In 1881 he published a pamphlet
entitled "Eintracht" (Harmony), in which he pleaded
the cause of the Jews against the Anti-Semitic
agitation in Germany.
Bechar, J., baptized at Constantinople in 1873,
studied at St. Chrischona, Basel, and was appointed
later as City Missionary in Neuchâtel.
Behrens, A. J., convert, student and missionary of
L.J.S, was pioneer Missionary in Safed in the forties
of the 18th century and at Jassy in 1850.
Behrens, Rev. A. D., son of the former, esteemed of
the L.J.S., whom the writer learned to know and love in
1873 at Breslau, was appointed to the charge of the
Mission at Vienna in 1875. A daughter married the
convert Glück, a physician of high standing in
Bucharest. Thus father and child have made known
God's truth in their respective spheres.
Behrens, S. J., another Jewish convert, was for
twenty years accountant and collector of the Operative
Jewish Converts' Institution, an exemplary
Christian, and well beloved by all who came in contact
with him. His life made a salutary impression upon
his rich brothers in Hamburg, who, although they
yet remained members of the synagogue, granted his
wife a liberal pension for life.
Bellson, Rev. R., born in the neighbourhood of Cassel,
Germany, in 1805. L.J.S. missionary from 1831,
successor of Pauli in Berlin, 1844. He was an excellent
scholar and was much respected by the cultured
Jews. In the very first year of his activity there, he
had the privilege of leading twenty Jewish souls to
the Saviour. One of his converts was the Rev. A. D.
Hefter, another Kappelin. He wrote in "Dibre
Emeth," "Blätter für Israel's Gegenwart und Zukunft."
Belmonte, E., banker in New York, connected with
Rothschild, joined the Protestant Church, whilst a
number of the same family joined the Roman Church
at different times. (See "Jewish Encyclopædia.")
Belmonte, Hannah, a near relation of Da Costa,
and later his wife, became a Christian in 1822.
Benary, Franz Ferdinand, born at Cassel in 1805,
baptized between 1824-27. He became Professor of
Theology in 1831, lectured in Berlin on Oriental
languages and exegesis, published the Old Indian
Art poem, "Naloduza" in 1830, a treatise under
the title, "De Leviratu," Hebr. 1835.
Benary, Karl Albert Agathan, a brother of the
former, likewise became a convert, was teacher at the
Gymnasium in Berlin, wrote largely on Classics, died
in 1860.
Benason, A., after his conversion wrote several
Christian hymns. (See "Saat auf Hoffnung, 1881.")
Bender, Carl Theodor, born at Berlin in 1818,
studied law, and was baptized in 1837 by Pastor
Jonas of the Nikolai Kirche there.
Benderman, Edward, born in Berlin in 1811, son of
a banker, embraced Christianity about 1832. He
became a celebrated artist and professor of art in the
Dresden Academy. Some of his pictures are: Boaz
and Ruth, The Jews in Babylon (Ps. cxxxvii.),
Jeremiah amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, The wandering
of the Jews into captivity to Babylon, in the
Natural Gallery in Berlin. These pictures exhibit
profound religious feeling on the part of the artist, and
sympathy with his Jewish brethren.
Bendix, Paul, Dr., was born at Rummelsberg in
Prussia, Aug. 29, 1823. He was early sent to a Christian
school, where he was often moved to tears when
hearing of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the age of seventeen he went to Danzig for rabbinical
study, and afterwards to the Berlin University,
where he gained the diploma of Ph.D. in 1850. Subsequently
he became rabbi, and worked at Berent and
Grandenz. He disapproved of many of the old Jewish
customs, but his congregation refused to allow the
introduction of any reforms. The wardens of the
synagogue at Grandenz, where he officiated from
1854 to 1858, wrote of him in a testimonial: "The
sermons of Dr. Bendix were instructive and edifying,
and owing to his splendid delivery and great oratorical
power they never failed to make a deep impression
on his hearers." While at Grandenz he made the
acquaintance of a Christian clergyman, through
whom he was led to study the New Testament. The
reading of this deeply affected him. Later on he
went to live in the house of a converted Jew, which
caused many of his hearers to warn him not to hold
intercourse with him on Christianity. But he was
now seeking for truth and peace, and though he
avoided conversation, he could not help noticing the
upright and serious life of his landlord, who closed
his place of business on the Lord's Day, held family
worship morning and evening, and took a keen interest
in home and foreign missions. All this made
an impression on him, and made him say: "This
man, surely, possesses the peace I am seeking. He
asked me one day what took the place of sacrifices
since the Temple was destroyed, what were the
essential contents of the Jewish Prayer Book. I could
only say to myself, Where is the atonement for sin?
I began to read the Old Testament with a terrified
conscience, and soon I found that my religious system
was built on the sand." At last he felt that he must
give up his position as rabbi, and he retired, not without
much opposition, to Berlin, where he spent his whole
time in the closest study of the Word of God. He
became convinced at last that the old covenant was
merely a preparation for the new one (Jer. xxxi. 31-34).
One difficulty was the word "virgin" in Isa. vii.
14, but when he saw that it was always used in opposition
to married women, he at once accepted
Christ as his Saviour, and was baptized with his wife
and children in 1860, in St. Matthew's Church, Berlin.
With a recommendation from Queen Elizabeth of
Prussia he came over to England, and from 1883
worked in connexion with the L.J.S. in London.
He died March 5, 1901, deeply regretted by both
Jews and Christians.
Benfey, Theodor, born at Nöster, near Göthingen,
January 28, 1809, became a convert to Christianity in
1848, died in 1881, at Göthingen. He was author of
numerous linguistic works on the Sanscrit, Bengali,
Hindustani, Persian, Egyptian, and Semitic languages.
His two works in English must be mentioned here:
"A Practical Grammar of the Sanscrit Language"
(Berlin 1863, London 1868), and "A Sanscrit-English
Dictionary" (London 1868). He established a
periodical, "Orient and Occident," in 1862.
Benjamin, Selig, a native of Bunzlau, Bohemia,
and surgeon by profession about the middle of
last century. Embraced Roman Catholicism, but
found no peace, so he relapsed into Judaism, but
remained in the same condition, wandering about to
find satisfaction for his restless soul, until he came to
Weikersheim in Würtemberg, and attended the
services of the court preacher Kern, when he was
converted. Whereupon he went to the synagogue
and publicly confessed his evangelical faith before the
congregation.
Benjamin, a Dutch Jewish convert. The story of
his conversion is a remarkable one and deserves a
place here. Pauli and his assistant Bloch visited
once a Kabbalistic Jew on a very stormy night. The
Jewish neighbours, when hearing of their visit, watched
for them outside the house. They followed them
on their way home, and when passing a bridge, some
called out, "Make an end of him (Pauli); throw him
into the water." Whereupon Benjamin, who accompanied
his visitors, cried, "Away with you!" and
pushed the assailants aside. "He is a good man.
He helped me to keep the Sabbath properly." They
then went away abashed. Benjamin was afterwards
baptized with his whole family in the presence of
3,000 Jews. This was the first entire family which
Pauli baptized at Amsterdam.
Benjamin, a Jewish convert in India, baptized by
the Rev. —— Laseron in 1849.
Benni, a Jew who first heard the Gospel from
Wendt and Hoff in Königsberg, became a
Christian Pastor in Petrekow, later in Radorn, and
through his faithful testimony not a few Jews decided
to acknowledge Jesus as their personal Saviour.
Benoly, Gabriel, M.D., baptized at Salem, Bromberg,
in 1869, was afterwards for many years medical
missionary of the L.J.S., and did good work in the
East End of London.
Ben Oliel, a well-known family in Oran, North
Africa, has given to the Church three sons about the
middle of the eighteenth century, baptized by the
Wesleyans in Gibraltar.
Ben Oliel, Rev. A., was for many years missionary
in Rome, and then at Jaffa and Jerusalem. He was
a true man of God, an ardent lover of his nation,
whose spiritual welfare he endeavoured to promote by
word and pen all through a long life. He died in
America towards the close of last century.
Ben Oliel, Rev. Maxwell Mochluff, after finishing
his theological course at St. Aidan's, was ordained in
1860, and was curate in several churches; also
domestic chaplain to the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland,
1864-66; minister of St. Patrick and St.
Saviour, South Kensington, 1878-81; missionary at
W. Berkeley, California, 1889-91; Rector of San
Bernadino, Cal., 1891-93. Returning to England, he
conducted a mission to the Jews at Kilburn, by
writing and lectures. As a good preacher and
thoroughly conversant with Jewish and Christian
literature, he was gladly heard in the churches and
cathedrals of England. His writings on the Jewish
subject are numerous.
Ben Oliel, Moses, served for many years as Bible
agent of the B. & F.B.S. at Oran.
Ben Zion, Benedix (Baruch), born in Homoslaipolia
in the government of Kiev, Russia, in 1839, was
led to become a Christian in a remarkable manner.
Once, when still a little boy in the Heder, he and his
fellow-pupils passed by a Russian Church when they
observed the cross and images. His companions at
once repeated Deut. vii. 26, and spat on the ground.
Ben Zion did not like this behaviour, so he made
figures and a cross with his stick on the ground.
This was reported to the teacher, who locked him up
and punished him severely for it. The fanaticism of
the Jews in the place was so great that Ben Zion's father
lost his position as Talmud teacher, because his boy
had been reading Mendelssohn's German translation
of the Bible. At the age of 13 Ben Zion began his
wandering career, and passing a chapel in a forest,
his eyes met the image of the Madonna and Child.
Without the least desire to render homage to the
figure, but only conscious that for its sake he had
already suffered, he took off his hat, knelt down, and
in this posture fell asleep, and was finally awakened by
a peasant. These apparently trifling circumstances
caused him later on to think seriously of Christianity,
and to search the Scriptures. He was baptized in
Berlin in 1863, then studied medicine and graduated
at the University of Würzburg in 1867. He went to
England, and having entered the service of the
British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
among the Jews, was sent to Roumania in 1874 as
medical missionary. In 1876 he was transferred to
Odessa, where he laboured successfully for ten years.
Then he was for a short time in Constantinople, and
since about 1888 he has been living in the United States
and helping in missionary work. He is the author of
"Orah Zedakah," a collection of proverbs and parables
in the style of Ecclesiasticus (Odessa, 1876); "Kol
Kore el Beth Israel" (translated from the English by
Dr. Ben Zion, London, 1868); a translation into
Judæo-German of Jos. H. Ingraham's "Prince of the
House of David," under the title of "Tiferet Yisrael"
(Odessa, 1883-88), and a translation into Judæo-German
of Silvio Pelier's drama, "Ester d'Engedé,"
under the title "Der Falsche Cohengodel."
Berdenbach, born at Offenbach, in 1809, brother of
the great lawyer of that name in Darmstadt, was
baptized by Pastor Schultz in Berlin, in 1839.
Berger, Rev. S. D., convert and student of the
L.J.S., was afterwards ordained to the Ministry in
the Lutheran Church U.S., and was appointed missionary
to the Jews in Chicago about 1885.
Bergheim, M., a noble Jewish convert, was sent
out by the L.J.S. in 1837 to assist the Rev.
Nicolayson in his work in Jerusalem. He was
afterwards a banker and died in 1896 as churchwarden
of Christ Church, Mount Zion. The Jewish
traveller, Dr. Ludwig August Frankel, who published
a book on his visit to Jerusalem in 1860 (translated
into Hebrew by M. E. Stern), says he found there
131 Jewish Christians in the Holy City, nine of whom
were of the Bergheim family.
Bergmann, Marcus S., convert of the L.J.S., is well-known
as a missionary of the L.C.M. and translator
of the Bible into Yiddish. A second edition, with
improved translation into simple Jargon, was issued
by him in 1905. In an account of his conversion he
thus writes:—
"I was born in Wieruszow, on the borders of Silesia,
in the year 1846. My father (who was of the sect of
Chassidim, which is the strictest sect of the Pharisees,
and a great Talmudist) died when I was about a year
old. Of my dear mother I have only a very dim
recollection, as she, too, died when I was but six years
old. I had one elder brother and one sister. My
brother was established in a large way of business in
Luben, a town near Breslau, and my sister was brought
up in the house of the Chief Rabbi of Breslau, Rabbi
G'dalia Titkin (who was a relative of ours), whilst I
was brought up with my uncle, Woolf Bergmann, a
Chassid like my father, in Wieruszow, under whom I
studied much of the Talmudic and Rabbinical
literature.
"When I was fourteen years of age I was sent to
Breslau to study under the chief Rabbi there. I did
not like it at first, as I had to change my Chassidic
dress for the German style, but I soon became accustomed
to it. After a residence of three years in
Breslau I went to one of my uncles who was a Rabbi
in Frankenstein, under whom I had ample opportunity
to practise for some time. I then went back to live
with my sister in Kalisch, and applied myself more
than ever to the study of the Talmud, believing it to
be the most honourable of all employment and most
conducive to the glory of God, and the best mode of
making amends for my sins, which I found clung to
me even when engaged in these religious duties.
"The word of the Lord to Abraham (Gen. xii. 1),
'Get thee out of thy country and from thy
kindred ... unto a land that I will shew thee,' seemed
at that time to be constantly ringing in my ears, and
made me so restless that I could not put my mind to
anything. I obeyed that voice, and in 1866, I left my
native country and came to England. Shortly after
my arrival in London I established a small synagogue
at which I gratuitously officiated as minister for nearly
two years; my sister from time to time sending me
remittances, as I required, from the portion which I
inherited of my father's property.
"It pleased the Lord at this time to lay His hand
upon me, and I was laid aside for six weeks in the
German hospital. When feeling a little better I
began to look into the Hebrew Bible, which was on
the shelf in the ward. As a reader in the synagogue
I knew the letter of the whole of the Pentateuch and
other portions of the Old Testament by heart.
"The portion of Scripture that made a great impression
on me at the time of my illness was Daniel ix.
Several verses of this chapter (the confession of
Daniel) are repeated each Monday and Thursday by
every Jew; but the latter part of the chapter, which
so plainly prophesies the suffering of the Messiah, is
never read—in fact the Rabbis pronounce a dreadful
curse upon any one who investigates the prophecy of
these seventy weeks. They say: 'Their bones shall
rot who compute the end of the time.' Remembering
this anathema, it was with fear and trembling that I
read the passage about the seventy weeks, and coming
to verse 26, 'Messiah shall be cut off, but not for
Himself'—though we Jews are most careful not to let
a Hebrew book drop to the ground—I threw that
Hebrew Bible out of my hand, thinking in my
ignorance that it was one of the missionaries' Bibles.
But although I threw the Bible away, I could not
throw away the words I had just read: 'Messiah shall
be cut off, but not for Himself.' These words sank
deeper and deeper into my soul, and wherever I looked
I seemed to see them in flaming Hebrew characters,
and I had no rest for some time. One morning I
again took up the Bible, and without thinking or
looking for any particular passage, my eyes were arrested
by these words (also in a chapter which is never
read by the Jews): 'For He was cut off out of the
land of the living; for the transgression of My people
was He stricken.' (Isa. liii. 8.)
"This seemed to be the answer to the question I
was constantly asking myself during this time of soul-conflict—'Messiah
shall be cut off, but not for Himself.'
For whom then? Here it was plainly revealed to me.
'For the transgression of My people;' and surely I belonged
to His people, therefore Messiah was cut off
for me.
"Shortly after this I left the hospital and was again
among my Jewish friends, but I could not banish
from my mind these two passages.
"One morning I put on my phylacteries and tallith
in order to perform the prescribed prayers, but I could
not utter a single sentence out of the prayer book before
me. One passage (Psalm cxix. 18), 'Open Thou
mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of
Thy law,' came into my mind, and that I repeated
over and over again, and for nearly two hours that
was the cry of my soul. After laying aside the
phylacteries and tallith I left the house without tasting
food, and as I walked along the streets I prayed again
in the words of the Psalmist, 'Lead me in Thy truth
and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation,
on Thee do I wait all the day long.' My heart was
burdened with a very great load, and yet I dared not
open my mind to any one. In this state I believe
the Spirit of God led me to Palestine Place. My
heart failed me when I reached the door of the late
Rev. Dr. Ewald's house.
"After several vain attempts, I ventured to knock,
and was admitted to see that venerable servant of the
Lord. To him I unburdened my soul and told him
all that was in my heart. He asked me whether I
was willing to come into his Home for enquirers in
order to be instructed in the truth as it is in the Lord
Jesus. I told him that was just what I needed, and
at once accepted his kindness, and I did not return
to my Jewish friends. This was just one week before
the Passover.
"On the first day of the feast several Jews of my
congregation, who had discovered where I was, came
and entreated me to leave the missionaries and go back
with them. As I refused to do so, they said they
would soon get me away with disgrace. They left,
but only for a short time, and when they returned
they brought a policeman with them and charged me
with being a thief, and as such I was taken to the
nearest police station and locked up. Whilst in the
cell I was visited by several Jews who implored me
to return to them, and said that if I promised to do so
they would not appear against me on the morrow, and
I would be liberated. I answered in the words of
David, when Gad, the seer, was sent to give him the
choice of his own punishment: 'Let me fall into the
hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great, but into
the hands of man let me not fall;' and I added, 'Thou
shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.'
They left me disappointed. But I never spent a happier
night than in that prison cell, for I felt and fully
realized that the Lord was with me, and it was there
that I for the first time knelt down and prayed to God
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though up to
this time I knew very little or nothing of the New
Testament, yet it seemed to me as if the Lord Jesus
spoke to me in the same manner as He did to His
disciples. 'They shall put you out of the synagogues,
yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will
think that he doeth God service; these things will
they do unto you because they have not known the
Father nor Me. But these things I have told you,
that when the time shall come, ye may remember that
I have told you of them.' 'And when they bring you
unto magistrates, and powers take ye no thought how or
what thing ye shall answer, for the Holy Ghost shall
teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.'
Passage after passage seemed to come before me, as
if the Lord Jesus had spoken audibly to me to
encourage me to cling close to Him and not to fear
what man could do unto me.
"The night—though sleepless—I passed joyfully
and peacefully. The morning came, which brought
other Jewish visitors with food from their table, also
entreating me to return to my Jewish friends. As I
refused, they told me that they had witnesses to prove
the charge against me, and I should be put into prison
for at least three months; but I felt that the Lord Jesus
was my advocate, and that He would plead my cause.
"About 10 o'clock I was taken out of the police cell
and led to the Mansion House (followed by a large
number of Jews) to appear before the Lord Mayor of
London. The whole judgment hall was filled with
Jews. My chief accuser swore that I had robbed him,
and three others gave their evidence on oath against
me. The Lord Mayor asked me, through an interpreter
(for I could not then speak English), what I
had to say in my defence, and whether I had any
witnesses to prove my innocence. I replied, 'I stand
here in this position on account of my faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am not only not guilty of the
crime which is imputed to me, but I have left all my
valuable things at the house where I lodged. It is
only because I wish to become a Christian that I am
accused.' The Lord Mayor then ordered my chief
accuser again into the witness box, and asked him
whether he knew that it was my intention to become
a Christian. The expression which flashed across his
angry countenance and was reflected by the face of the
other Jews present, sufficiently answered the question
before he could speak a word.
"On cross-examination they so contradicted each
other that they themselves proved my innocence, and
I was at once set at liberty. (I wish it to be clearly
understood that this persecution was not in enmity to
myself personally, but rather in friendship and mistaken
zeal. They wished to save me at any cost from
becoming a Christian).
"On leaving the Mansion House I returned to Dr.
Ewald, and after being thoroughly instructed in the
Scriptures, I was admitted into the visible Church of
Christ on the 7th of June, 1868, by the rite of baptism.
"After my baptism I was admitted into the
Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, where I stayed
nearly two years. In May, 1870, I was accepted as an
agent of the London City Mission, to work among
my poor benighted people in the East of London.
During the first few years of my mission work I had
naturally to undergo much persecution, and the work
was most arduous, but by the blessing of God this is
in a great measure changed.
"It is now fully thirty-one years since I became a
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I can look back
upon all these years and say that not one good thing
hath failed of all His gracious promises."
Bernal, Jacob Israel, an English Jew, in the first
half of the 19th century, had his children baptized,
only one son, Ralph, remained in Judaism.
Bernal, Osborn, M.P., the son of Ralph, embraced
Christianity, and his daughter married the Duke of
St. Albans.
Bernard, D., baptized in Wilna with his wife and
daughter in 1818, by Pastor Nichlous, of the Lutheran
Church, is recorded as having lived an exemplary
Christian life. He was first baptized in the Roman
Church, came then in contact with Luther, who
had won him for the Evangelical Truth, and wrote
to him a letter with a view to strengthen him in
the faith, and that he should make it known to his
brethren.
Bernard, Herman, born in Southern Russia in 1785,
baptized in his youth, settled in Cambridge as a
private teacher in 1830, and was appointed "Preceptor
Linguæ Sacræ" in the University, October 18, 1837.
Bernard published the following works—"The Creed
and Ethics of the Jews" in selections from the "Yad
Hahazakah" of Maimonides (1832), and "Hamenahel"
(the Guide of the Hebrew Student), 1839. The "Me
Menichoth" (Still Waters), an easy, practical Hebrew
grammar, in two volumes, appeared during his
blindness. His lectures on the book of Job appeared
in one volume in 1864.
Bernard, Rudolf, a Swiss Jewish convert, published
an Epistle to the Jews in 1705, under the title "Lekah
Tob" (good doctrine), in which he tried to influence
them in favour of Christianity.
Bernays, Michael, was baptized in the 19th century,
date not known. In 1872 and 1873 he taught at the
University of Leipzig, and in 1874 he was appointed
extraordinary Professor of Modern German, English
and French Literature, at the University of Munich.
He wrote on the poetry of Goethe, under the title,
"Der junge Goethe," Leipzig, 1875.
Bernhard, a Polish Rabbi, who was baptized by
Pastor Storr, in the 18th century, in Heilbronn,
assumed the name of Christoph. David Bernhard. He
was afterwards Reader of Hebrew at Jena, and later
at Tübingen. (Wolf, B. ii. 3, 4.)
Bernhardy, Dr. Gottfried, born in Landsburg, 1860,
died 1875, embraced Christianity when studying in
Berlin. He was a great classical scholar, and wrote
as Professor, "Syntax of the Greek Language," Berlin,
1829. "Grundriss der Romischen Literatur," 1830.
"Grundlinien der Encyclopædia der Philologie,"
1832, &c.
Bernheim. We have only his memorial preserved
as having been an associate of Rev. J. Neander, and of
another proselyte, Bonhome, in the evangelization of
the Jews in New York, about 1845.
Bernstein, Rev. Aaron, born in Skalat, Galicia, in
1841, received, as an only son, a good and pious early
education, and was when quite young brought under
the influence of the wonder Rabbi of the town, with
whose grandson he learned Talmud at school. At
the age of 17 he was assistant teacher in a town in
Moldavia, when the Rev. W. Mayer, L.J.S. missionary
at Jassy, appeared one day in the Synagogue and
had a discussion with the Jews, on which occasion he
received a German tract, entitled "The Righteous
shall live by his Faith." This made some impression
upon him, but it passed away, as he was too young to
understand it all. A few years later he went to
Jassy, when he met Mr. Mayer again, who gave him a
Hebrew New Testament and the "Old Paths." These
were the means under God of leading him eventually
to acknowledge the Saviour. He was baptized by
Dr. Ewald, together with nine other Jews, on
November 22, 1863. After being for a short time in the
Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, he went to the
United States, and after a year or so of teaching in a
school and privately, he entered a missionary college
which was established by a German missionary,
known later as Bishop Auer of Cape Palmas. He
then studied Theology in the General Seminary, New
York, was ordained Deacon in Philadelphia in July
1870, and appointed by Bishop Stevens as Rector of
St. Paul's, Manheim, Pa. In June, 1871, the L.J.S. sent
him as missionary to Jerusalem, where he laboured
only about a year and a-half, as he could not stand
the climate. Subsequently he laboured in Bucharest,
Paris, Liverpool, and Frankfort, but the greater
part of his missionary career was in London, with the
exception of an interval of three years, in which he
was curate in Hertfordshire. Bernstein had the
honorary degree of M.A. conferred upon him by
Columbia College, New York, in 1873, owing to his
taking the Greek Prize at the Seminary in 1870, and
later the Faculty of the Seminary gave him B.D. He
wrote "Sefer Roshey Hatayvoth," "Anglo-Israel
Theory," translated Professor Cassel's "Commentary
on the Book of Esther" into English, together with the
"Targum Sheni" from the Original and Appendices
(T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1888). He published
"The City of David," "The Book and the People,"
and contributed articles to the "Hebrew Christian
Witness," "The Scattered Nation," "The Everlasting
Nation," "Jews and Christians," "The Jewish
Missionary Intelligence," and wrote about a dozen
tracts in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, and revised a
new edition of the Hebrew Bible in 1895. Editor of
the "Kol M'Bhasser" since 1907. Non nobis, Domine,
non nobis, sed nomini Tuo da honorem.
Bernstein, Rev. ——, a congregational minister in
North London.
Bernstein, Theodor. Though brief, the information
of this convert is very interesting. He was baptized
by the Rev. H. Stewart, in Liverpool, on the same
day that his spiritual teacher, the missionary H. J.
Joseph, was ordained to the ministry of the Church
of England, in 1836.
Biesenthal, Dr. Joiachim Heinrich—or, to give
him his birth-name, Raphael Hirsch—was born
at Lobsens, in the Grand Duchy of Posen, on
December 24th, 1804, of pious and strict Jewish
parents. His early education was chiefly confined
to the study of the national law and tradition;
and through much self-denial and sacrifice on
the part of his parents, who intended him for
the rabbinate, he was able to have lessons from
the best teachers and most learned Talmudist scholars
of the day. He was what is called a Bachur (lit.
"young man"), a student of the Beth Hamidrash,
who is intended for the study of the law. The
Talmudical principle, "Know well what to answer an
infidel," particularly moved his father to insist that he
should join with the study of Talmud that of the
Holy Scriptures and Jewish poetry. He soon found,
however, that as regards his study of the Bible he was
left to his own diligence and perseverance, for his
teachers knew nothing at all about it; and, being
imbued with the Talmudical warning—"Keep your
children from the study of Holy Scripture," they were of
opinion that it was not only a useless study and waste
of time, but also a danger to one's piety.
In 1819, when Raphael was fifteen years of age,
the town of Lobsens was destroyed by fire, by which
his parents were ruined. His education, however,
had to be completed, and so he entered the famous
Jewish school of Rawitsch, where he received instruction
from rabbis, and principally from Rabbi Herzfeld,
of European renown. Deprived of every assistance
from home, young Raphael had to struggle hard
during his four year's residence there. On leaving
Rawitsch he went to Mainz, where he received
most kind care and support from the Rabbi of that
city, Löb Ellinger, brother of the renowned Nathan
Ellinger, or Nathan Bar Yospa, rabbi of Bingen,
several of whose manuscripts are in the Bodleian.
The celebrated Heidenheim (Wolf Ben Samson) of
Rödelheim, the greatest Jewish critic and grammarian
after Ibn-Ezra and David Kimchi, helped him to the
treasures of Jewish literature, lending him the best
grammars in the Hebrew language, so that he was
able to acquire, with great application on his part, a
complete mastery of grammatical Hebrew. He next
gave himself up to the study of German history, and
Latin and Greek. His studies threw him into contact
with the Rev. Dr. Klee, Roman Catholic Professor
at Bonn, who gave him lessons in Hebrew, and
introduced him to the Duchess of Coburg, the wife of
General de Mensdorff, Governor of the fortress of
Mainz. From her, and all the family, Raphael
received many substantial proofs of kindness, and
when he was about to leave Mainz, which he did in
1828, she gave him a considerable sum of money, and
a letter written by herself to Baron de Rothschild, of
Frankfort-on-the-Main, and graciously intimated that
she would be glad to hear how he was getting on in
life. Raphael found the Baron not inclined to assist
him when he heard that he meant to finish his studies
at Berlin, because he considered that a dangerous
city, where all young Jewish students were being
converted to Christianity. That there was great truth
in this statement will appear lower down. "Keep
away from a city where thousands become apostates!"
were his parting words. Baron de Rothschild, however,
sent him a letter of recommendation to Baron
de Hägemann, the Chancellor. When Raphael delivered
the letter, the not unnatural remark was,
"What is the use of a recommendation for assistance
from Rothschild! Why did he not help you himself?"
So he was obliged to shift for himself at
Berlin, and to earn his living by giving lessons. He
employed his leisure time in study. In the year 1830
he resided for four weeks with a Christian family at
Havelberg, where he learnt for the first time what
true Christianity was, and he determined, as he said, to
"search for Christian truth." In this purpose his
intercourse with Christian divines greatly helped him.
He studied theology and philology in the University
of Berlin from 1828, taking his doctor's degree in
1835. He studied under the Oriental scholar, William
Vatke, and his knowledge of the Hebrew grammar
was greatly increased by personal friendly intercourse
with Dr. Gesenius, the distinguished Hebrew scholar,
at Halle. Raphael was baptized in 1836 by the Rev.
Dr. Kuntze, taking the Christian names of Joiachim
Heinrich and the surname of Biesenthal.
That there was a considerable truth in Baron de
Rothschild's observation given above, is seen from
the statistics of Jewish baptisms in those days.
Dr. Kuntze, who was a resident clergyman at
Berlin, was instrumental in leading many young Jews
to Christ. He baptized eighty in eight years (1829-36),
whilst the Society's missionary, the Rev. W.
Ayerst, baptized forty-two adult Jews in three years
(1834-7). Altogether, 326 Jewish baptisms were registered
in the Consistory at Berlin during the years
1830-37. A few years later (1844) the Rev. C. W.
H. Pauli, the Society's missionary, reported that there
were above 1,000 converts resident in Berlin; and in
1850, as many as 2,500. They filled all ranks and
stations, and were to be found in all the ministerial
departments, and in the university.
In 1844, Biesenthal placed his services at the disposal
of the Society, and in doing so, wrote: "My
Biblical studies led me, after much searching and wandering
for a long time, to find Him of whom Moses and
the Prophets did write. This result, this light which
God caused to shine in my darkness, I deem it my
unrelenting duty to communicate to others yet living
in darkness, because the Lord Himself says that we
should not put our light under a bushel. The
Apostles, as well as all the Fathers, were furthered
by the same disposition of mind. 'For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also,' says the
Lord. If Christ be our treasure, our heart must be
entirely and undividedly His own, and all our talents
devoted to the glory of His kingdom. Becoming a
missionary seems to me the surest way to fulfil Christ's
commands. I have long considered it both a duty
and a privilege to communicate to my brethren after
the flesh the message of salvation, and to employ
those talents which God has given me for their welfare.
My predilection for the above has often seemed to be
a token of God's will that I should shew my brethren
from their very literature, as well as from the Bible,
that the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid
in Christ, and that we can only know the Father
through Him. During the last three years I have
acted upon this conviction, and embraced every opportunity
to prove to my brethren that the Gospel of
Christ is the power of God unto salvation, and my
anxious desire now is to be enabled to devote all my
time to this pursuit."
These earnest words are an echo of St. Paul's, "My
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they
might be saved" (Rom. x. 1). With this spirit and
aim, Biesenthal entered upon his long missionary career
of 37 years in connexion with this Society—active
laborious years spent in Berlin (1844-1868) and
Leipzig (1868-1881). Eloquent in the Scriptures,
with a perfect command of Hebrew and wide
knowledge of Talmud and rabbinical literature, he
was thoroughly furnished for his life's work. Those
who knew him well believed that he had intellectual,
literary and biblical qualifications in a most eminent
degree, and that he was the best Hebrew scholar of
their acquaintance. His knowledge of languages
embraced—in addition to his native Polish—Hebrew,
Latin, Greek, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, Ethiopic,
Samaritan, French, German, Spanish, Italian and
English. Never was missionary more highly gifted
with "tongues"—his equal in this respect is not to
be found in the ranks of the London Jews' Society;
whilst with his pen he did even better service than
with his lips in proclaiming "Jesus Christ and Him
crucified" to his brethren after the flesh.
Biesenthal's missionary life commenced on April
1st, 1844, as an assistant missionary in this Society's
mission at Berlin, under the Rev. C. W. H. Pauli,
where he also undertook the editorship of "Records of
Israel's State and Prospects," a monthly periodical
designed to promote the Society's work, to give
treatises on Messianic passages of the Old Testament,
to discuss Christian and Jewish doctrines, and to give
attention to Jewish history and literature; he also
wrote many articles for the "Dibre Emeth." He
continued to work in this humble capacity under the
Rev. R. Bellson until 1868, when his great abilities
found a recognition, even though tardy, by his
appointment to the charge of a new mission station
of the Society at Leipzig. This important city, the
second in Saxony, and the seat of a university, had for
many years been visited by the Society's missionaries
from Berlin at the time of the great fairs, when Jews
assembled from all parts, and to whom large numbers
of Old and New Testaments were sold. Biesenthal
found some seventy or eighty Hebrew Christians
living there, and subsequently gave it as his opinion
that they might be "numbered by hundreds." There
was a small Jewish community of about 500, who,
since 1849, had enjoyed the rights of citizenship.
This may seem to have been but a small field of work
for a man of such attainments, but he was the only
missionary to the Jews throughout the whole kingdom
of Saxony; and, moreover, Leipzig was the resort of
many foreign Jews from Poland, Russia, Turkey, Greece,
Persia, and even from America, and thus altogether
an important missionary centre. Apart from the
visible results in the form of baptisms from Biesenthal's
labours, the indirect results were great and far-reaching.
As a scholar his name was, for many
years, a household word in Germany, and especially
in those circles where the Jewish mission exerted its
influence. His Commentaries on the Gospels and
the Epistles to the Romans and the Hebrews, so
eminently useful in mission work, obtained well-deserved
eminence.
The mission field, as time went on, became less
promising and fruitful, the Jews becoming infected
with the socialism and rationalism in Germany, as
taught in the universities, churches, schools, and other
institutions. Zeal for missions almost died out; the
Jews became the subject of much Anti-Semitism.
The long pent-up enmity against them burst forth
with great virulence. In Leipzig, as in other places,
petitions were sent to the Government urging the
withdrawal of their political rights and privileges.
In return, the Jews paid back hatred by hatred.
This state of things led Dr. Biesenthal to take a
gloomy view of the general position. In his last
report but one he said: "Hurricanes of trouble are
blowing from the four quarters of the earth against
the Church and against the Gospel," and added that
in such circumstances his report could not be a
joyous one.
Dr. Biesenthal doubtless obtained more satisfaction
from his literary than from his missionary labours;
although, in his case, one was the complement of the
other. A scholar he was emphatically, and a brilliant
one withal, as his works abundantly and substantially
testify; and as such he will be principally remembered.
His published works contained the following:
"Auszüge aus dem Buche Sohar, mit Deutscher
Uebersetzung" (1837), a proof from Jewish sources of
the doctrine of the Trinity and other Christian
verities; "Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Schulwörterbuch
über das A.T." (1836-7); "David Kimchi's ספר השרשים
or Liber Radicum" (1838-48), in collaboration
with F. S. Lebrecht; "The Thirty-nine Articles of the
Church of England" (1840); "The Book of Psalms,"
Hebrew text and Commentary (1841); "The Book of
Isaiah," Hebrew Text and Commentary (1841);
"Chrestomathia Rabbinica Sive Libri Quatuor, etc."
(1844); "Menachem ben Serug's Hebrew Lexicon"
(1847); "Theologisch-Historische Studien" (1847);
"Zur Geschichte der Christlichen Kirche," etc. (1850);
"Das Trostschreiben des Apostels Paulus an die
Hebraer" (1878); and a Hebrew Translation of the
Epistles to the "Hebrews and the Romans," with
Commentary (1857-8). He also wrote Commentaries
on "St. Matthew's Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles,"
an Essay on "The Atonement"; and the "Life of
Gerson."
In 1877, the University of Giessen conferred upon
him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
In his greatest work, the "History of the Christian
Church," intended for the special use of the Jews, he
proved that they stood in close connexion with the
early Church, by bringing prominently forward the
history of Jewish believers who loved their Saviour
devotedly and laboured successfully for the spread of
the Gospel at the time of its first promulgation.
Dr. Isaac Jost (1793-1860), the learned Jewish
historian of Frankfort, in reviewing Dr. Biesenthal's
"Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews," referred
to it as a masterly composition, and also to the
author's extraordinary command of the Hebrew
language, and said it excelled everything which had
ever been written before in the endeavour to prove,
not only that Christianity is to be found in the
writings of almost all the ancient prophets, and that
Christ's coming fulfilled the law, but that the rabbis
of almost every age agree with the writers of the New
Testament as to the general character of the Messiah
promised, although they do not admit that Jesus was
that Messiah.
Dr. Julius Fürst (1805-1873), another eminent
Jewish author, referring to Biesenthal's Commentaries
generally, and the extensive erudition and thorough
knowledge displayed of Jewish literature before and
after the Christian era, bore still higher testimony,
and stated that all previous attempts to translate the
New Testament, or parts of it, were exceeded by the
distinguished labours of Dr. Biesenthal, not only on
account of the richness and fulness of matter,
extracted with much taste from the Talmud, Midrash,
and Sohar, but also on account of the clearness of
thought with which he penetrated and exhibited
the doctrinal teaching of the Apostles.
It is a matter for deep regret that these valuable
Commentaries are out of print, and consequently out
of circulation.
It is an interesting circumstance that Biesenthal
also wrote, 1840, under the pseudonym "Karl Ignaz
Corvé," a work entitled "Ueber den Ursprung die
Juden Erhobenen Beschuldigung bei der Feier Ihrer
Ostern sich des Blutes zu bedienen, etc.," in which he
defended the Jews from the Blood Accusation at
Damascus.
Dr. Biesenthal retired from active service in 1881,
and died at Berlin on June 25th, 1886, at the advanced
age of 82 years.
Binion, Dr. Samuel A., son of Joshua, born in
Suwalki, Poland, where he received a good Hebrew
and Talmudic education, and then studied at Wilna,
Breslau and Padua, under great Jewish savants. He then
went to England, about 1864-5, where, like Philip, he
found Jesus to be the Messiah, and he was baptized
by the Rev. Dr. Ewald in Palestine Place. He then
attended lectures at King's College, and, probably
through the influence of Dr. Schwarz, he was sent to
labour in the Protestant cause in Spain, where he
became superintendent of schools in Seville and in
the Balearic Islands. Thence he went to the United
States, where his linguistic attainments and great
learning found free scope and due acknowledgment.
There he largely contributed to current encyclopædias.
He was one of the revisers of the "Century
Dictionary of Names," and wrote the article on the
Kabbalah in "Charles Warner's Cyclopædia of the
World's Best Literature." Dr. Binion's master work
is "Ancient Egypt," two elaborate folio volumes on
the art and archæology of Egypt. He is also the
translator of "'Quo Vadis,' with Fire and Sword,"
Dan Michael, published in Holiday de Luxe editions,
Philadelphia.
Bleibtreu, Philip Johann, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main,
in the middle of the seventeenth century,
died in 1702. He published a work in German,
entitled "Meir Naor" (the enlightened Meir from his
Jewish name Meir), Frankfort, 1787, giving an account
of his conversion, notes on the Jewish festivals, and
on some Jewish prayers. The last words he uttered
when dying were, "Ich bleibe treu" ("I remain faithful"),
in allusion to his name, which is equivalent to the
English name "Faithful."
Bloch, Edward, born in 1810. While holding the
office of first master in a Jewish school, was convinced
of the truth of the Gospel, and then baptized by
Pastor Kunze, in Breslau, in 1836.
Bloch, Julius Paul, was born April 16th, 1816 at
Jutroschin, in Prussia. His parents, Simon and Zipporah,
brought him up to be, like themselves, strictly
orthodox. Being clever, before he was 13 years old,
when he became "Bar Mitzvah," he had gained a
thorough Talmudical education. He grew up a
very strict pious Jew, never missing synagogue either
morning or evening. In his fourteenth year he was
apprenticed to a furrier. Whilst thus earning his
living, two missionaries came to Jutroschin. Their
advent caused a great commotion, as the city was
then renowned as one of the strongholds of Judaism.
The Jews determined to oppose their work, and
Julius Bloch was one of the foremost to stone them.
A year or two later he had to travel as a journeyman
in his trade. This eventually brought him to
Greifswalde, where he found employment with a Mr.
Albert, who, at last, made him foreman in his factory.
This man and his wife were true Christians, and often
talked to him about Christ. He noticed, too, the peace
they enjoyed in hours of the greatest adversity, and
his faith in Judaism, as a religion of comfort, was
shaken. At last he tried to turn a deaf ear to all
they said, but the seeds of eternal life had been sown
in his heart. He began to feel lonely and unhappy;
he could no longer say the Hebrew prayers, Jewish
ceremonies began to lose their hold, as having no
solace for his disturbed mind. Of this time he says:
"I got a Bible, and began to read it. My conscience
was awakened, and I became my accuser. I put the
Bible away and determined to remain a good Jew, but
the wounds of my conscience and heart became
putrifying sores. I tried to comfort myself that I
had always lived a moral and blameless life; but it
was all in vain." At last his despair nearly drove
him to suicide, from which he was only saved by
throwing himself on his knees in prayer. That night
he was "born again," and the next day, May 16, 1839,
he openly confessed his newly found faith. The
change became known to the Jews. Arguments
and threats, and even the offer from a brother
to establish him in business—all was in vain. The
next year he went to Berlin, and after preparation
was received into the Church of Christ, by Pastor
Kuntze, on June 6, 1841. Further trials from his
family awaited him, until he fled to Amsterdam,
where Mr. Pauli, the Society's missionary, asked him
to assist in the mission. From that time, 1843, until
May, 1900, when he died, his work was signally
blessed, many Jews through his influence being baptized.
He thus passed away "as a shock of corn
cometh in in his season."
Bloch, Moritz (in Hungarian, Ballage Mór), born in
Timova, 1816, received a Talmudic education, then
studied at the University of Pesth, then Orientalia at
Paris. In 1841 he sent a petition to the Hungarian
Parliament, asking for the emancipation of the Jews.
He translated the Pentateuch and Joshua into
Hungarian, adding exegetical notes. In 1843 he was
baptized in Germany in a Lutheran Church. The
next year he was appointed Professor at the Lyceum
in Syarvas, Hungary. He was an author of several
works on educational and theological topics, and edited,
in 1840, the "Protestantische Kirchen und Schulbatt."
Bock, Wilhelm Isaac, a Jewish rabbi, after embracing
Christianity, taught Hebrew in Frankfort on
the Oder, and published "Abraham Jugels Lekah Tob,
or Catechism for Jews in German," Leipzig, 1694.
Bonaventura, Meyer, a Jewish convert, wrote "Das
Judenthum in seinen Gebeten, Gebrauchen, Gesetzen
und Ceremonien," Regensburg, 1843.
Bonn, first master in a school, baptized at Königsberg
in 19th century, is recorded to have been very
zealous in the work of the German Home Mission,
and preached the Gospel.
Borg, Ernest Maximilian, a Jew who held a
similar position to Bock, was baptized much earlier in
Breslau (de le Roi, I. 212).
Börling, Pastor J. Jacob, born in 1802, in Slavito,
Russia, five times experienced as a child God's mercy
when he was in danger of being drowned. He
devoted himself diligently to the study of rabbinic
and Kabbalistic lore, until this whole system surfeited
him with disgust when he found that its votaries were
far from being the saints they pretended to be. In
1821, the missionaries Saltet and Betzner visited
Berditscheff, where the family then resided. Börling
received a tract from them, but his mother tore it in
pieces. Later the missionary Moritz arrived there,
and as a born Jew he made a great impression upon
Börling, so that he began to search the Scriptures,
and at length was baptized by Saltet, his first missionary
acquaintance, in 1823. In 1825 he accompanied
Joseph Wolff to Schuster on the Persian border.
In 1828 he went alone to Persia, to rescue German
subjects who were sold into slavery, in which self-denying
mission he eventually succeeded. He then
studied in the mission house at Basel, and in 1834 he
was appointed by the Berlin Society as their missionary
in that city. There he worked zealously till 1840,
when he accepted the call to become pastor of a
Church in Bellowesch, in the government of Tschernigoff.
Börling was the son-in-law of the missionary
Goldberg, the brother-in-law of Hausmeister. The
latter wrote, "Leben und Wirken des Pastors J.
J. Börling." (Basel, 1852).
Börne, Karl Ludwig (Loeb Baruch), German political
and literary writer, born 1786 at Frankfort-on-the-Main,
died in Paris, 1837. He was baptized in the
Lutheran Church at Rödelheim, by Pastor Bertuah,
on June 5th, 1818. In 1819 he became editor of the
"Zeitung der Freien Stadt Frankfurt." Börne was a
prolific writer. A complete edition of his works, in
12 vols., was published at Hamburg in 1862.
Braham, John (Abraham), born in 1774, died 1856,
a well-known musician in London, where he was as a
Jew leader of the choir of the Great Synagogue, and
became afterwards, as a Christian, especially popular
for his song, entitled "The Death of Nelson." Of his
children, a daughter became Countess Waldegrave,
and later she married Lord Carlingford.
Brandon, a convert, educated at St. Chrischona,
Basel, was sent by the Scotch Church as missionary
to Alexandria, in 1859. In 1862 he went to Khartum,
and after receiving permission from King
Theodore, he entered Abyssinia, and was partner with
Flad and Stern in their labours and in their captivity.
After the release of the captives, he was actively
engaged in good work at Beyrout, Syria.
Branis, a daughter of Rabbi Kempner, was baptized
in 1826, out of pure conviction. Her old father was
also inclined towards Christianity, but died before he
could come to a decision.
Braniss, Christlieb Julius, born in Breslau, 1792,
died 1873. He became Professor of Philosophy at
Breslau in 1833. He was the author of several works
on philosophy and metaphysics. One only requires
mentioning here, "De Notione Philosophiae Christianae."
Brenz, Victorin Christophorus, was baptized in
1601, together with his parents and the whole family.
His father, Samuel Frederick Brenz, is known as the
author of the "Jüdischer Abgestreifter Schlangenbalg"
("The Jewish Serpent's Skin Stripped") against which
Solomon Zebi Hirsch, of Aufhausen, wrote "Der
Jüdische Theriak" ("The Jewish Theriak or Antidote")
Hanau, 1615. Brenz, junior, after finishing his
theological studies, quietly and patiently, served in
1624 as minister at Untermichelbach, receiving a
stipend of 150 thaler, with which he had to support
his wife and four children. Later he had the care of
two churches, and yet he had to work in the fields as a
labourer to earn his living. Then he had the care of
seven parishes, in which he exhausted his strength,
and died at the age of 47, in 1642.
Brilliant, a convert, laboured as an Evangelist
among the Jews in the service of the Free Church of
Scotland at Amsterdam, in 1866.
Bromet, M. S., a Dutch Jew, baptized in 1855, was
very much persecuted by his brethren. He wrote
several tracts, amongst which were—"De Wederkomst
en de regeering van den Heere Jesus Christus," "Kort
Oversicht van eenige gelijkenissen des Heeren," "De
erste opstonding in verband met de Wederkomst des
Heeren," "Het National herstel en de bekeering van
Israel," "Elischoa God is miyn heil," Amst. Doct.,
1874-76.
Bronkhorst, S. H. convert, student and missionary
of the L.J.S., in Abyssinia 1859-1862, when he and
Flad laboured together in Djenda.
Brühl, John Henry, was born in 1823 at Schmiegel
(Posen). He was sent to school at a very early
age, and, before he was five years old, was able to
translate the greater part of the Hebrew Pentateuch
into German. A short account of the life of Christ
about this time influenced him greatly. Later on he
used, with his father, to visit a Christian family, and
through looking at the pictures in it he became interested
in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles,
though he found the Epistles beyond his youthful
grasp. When about ten years old he was studying
Isaiah, and was struck by the 53rd chapter; that
which hitherto had been a lurking suspicion became
an absolute certainty, and the more so as he saw how
the principal Jewish commentators laboured in vain
to prove that this prophecy could not apply to Jesus
of Nazareth. His growing convictions of the truth of
Christianity prevented his becoming a rabbi, which
his parents earnestly desired, so he resolved to be a
schoolmaster. During his course at the seminary,
owing to the words of Dr. Zahn, the director, he was
convinced of the truth. Through the London Jews'
Society's missionaries at Amsterdam, where he then
went, he decided to be a Christian. He came to
London, where he entered the Operative Jewish
Converts' Institution, and eventually was baptized in
1846. Later on he passed through the Society's Missionary
College, and in 1851 went to Baghdad, where
he laboured successfully. In 1853 he was ordained in
Jerusalem. On his way back to Baghdad he preached
to Jews, Mohammedans and fire-worshippers, many of
whom had never heard the Gospel before. Many missionary
journeys were made by him between 1854 and
1864 through Persia and Kurdistan, leaving large
numbers of believers in almost every place. After
visiting England in 1856, when he received priest's
orders and was married, he returned with the Rev. J.
M. Eppstein to Baghdad, where they remained until
1866, when the mission was given up, but not until
there were numerous converts from both Jews and
Mohammedans. The following year he was appointed
to Lemberg, and in 1871 to Vienna, and in spite of
immense difficulties gained many faithful believers in
both these cities. In 1875 he became Principal of
the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution, where he
remained for twelve years, when he retired from
active work. During this time 160 Jews passed
through the Institution, 70 of whom he baptized. By
his death, in 1893, the Church and the world lost a
great linguist, a good historian and mathematician,
but, above all, a thorough and devoted Christian
missionary.
Brunner, W., born in Brody, Galicia, in 1822. His
parents were in good circumstances. After the death
of his father at the age of 90, he came to England,
where he was converted and baptized by the Rev. Dr.
Bailey, Principal of St. Aidan's College. He was
afterwards prepared for missionary work by the
British Society, and laboured at Marseilles and in
Switzerland. He had the privilege of bringing two
brothers to the Saviour. He died in 1890.
Buzin, Rev. Paul Theodor Ludwig, born in Clecko
(Posen), was baptized in Sagord (Isle of Rügen), by
Pastor Ockel. He then studied at Basel, and eventually
became Pastor of a Lutheran Church in the
United States.
Cachet, Rev. Lion, a Dutch Jewish merchant, embraced
Christianity in 1849, then studied theology
and went to South Africa in 1858. He officiated as
pastor in different churches at the Cape and in Natal,
and founded eight new congregations. In 1876 he
became pastor of the Netherland Reformed Church
at Velliersdorf. He took a great interest in missionary
work among the Jews, which he promoted through
the newspaper, "Zuid Afrikaanische Stem voor en tot
Israel."
Calman, Erasmus Scott, born in Lithuania, became
a convert to Christianity early in the nineteenth
century. In 1839 he assisted Nicolayson in his work
in Jerusalem, travelling with him all over Palestine,
and being well received by the Jews. Later in life he
took up his residence in London. A friend having
left him a large legacy to enable him to work independently,
he availed himself of just so much of it as
would meet the wants of the poorest pauper. He left
the money given him for his own comforts, probably
with a large increase through his savings, to trustees
for the support of aged poor Hebrew Christians.
Calman was a learned as well as a good man, and
published a treatise entitled: "Some of the Errors of
Modern Judaism contrasted with the Word of God,"
and another entitled, "The Morrow of the Sabbath."
Cantoni, Giuseppi (Jacob), a Jew from Trieste, won
for Christ by the Rev. Lewis Way, was baptized in
the Chapel of the Dutch Consul at Smyrna, before a
large congregation, in 1832.
Capadose, Dr. Abraham, born at Amsterdam, 1795,
of a Portuguese family, died there December 16th, 1874.
Here is his autobiography, which he sent to his friend,
Ridley Herschell, in London:—"I will no longer delay,
dear friends, to comply with your request that I would
communicate in writing the mode in which it pleased
God to bring me to the knowledge of Himself, and to
lead me out of darkness into His marvellous light.
"Being deeply sensible that it was not of myself I
sought after God, but that my compassionate Lord
came to seek me when I was lost, it would be false
modesty if I were now to withhold an account which,
when verbally communicated, interested and edified
many dear friends, who therein traced the great love
of the Saviour towards a poor sinner like me, and thus
were led to ascribe all the glory to Him whose name
is blessed for evermore. May this glory be the only
object I shall keep in view in this account! Such is
the sincere desire of my heart; and I ask of God to
guide my pen in truth and sincerity, that I may be
kept from all self-seeking, into which the necessity of
speaking of myself might betray me.
"Although I was by birth a Portuguese Israelite, I
was by no means zealous for the religion of my fathers.
My education was rather moral than religious; and
though taught to hate vice, and to love what the
world calls virtue, I owe it entirely to the grace of
God that at an after period I was preserved from
open impiety.
"At an early age I was captivated by science and
literature. I was fond of balls, plays, and every
worldly amusement; but study afforded me still
greater satisfaction. I became acquainted with the
works of Voltaire and Rousseau at an early period of
my life; but their false principles, and still more, the
frightful consequences of their system, as exhibited
before my eyes in the history of the French revolution,
preserved me, by the divine mercy, from their hurtful
influence. My parents having destined me for the
medical profession, I considered it my duty to acquire
the knowledge requisite for this calling; but I felt
more inclination for the study of the theoretical
sciences, and for philosophic research.
"My friends were nearly all young men who made
an outward profession of Christianity; but the Lord
had given me one friend among my near relatives.[8]
As we were both Israelites, and had been intimate
from childhood, our views on all subjects were very
similar. (Dr. Capadose here proceeds to state their
intercourse with Bilderdyk, which is the same
as the account given by Da Costa, see page 172).
The religious element, if I may call it so, had not as
yet entered into my soul. In my early childhood, it
is true, I had often felt an undefined need of prayer;
and when about nine years' old, had asked my parents
to give me a book of prayers, either in the French or
Dutch language, that I might understand them better.[9]
I strongly urged my younger brothers and sisters to
the same practice; and this was the more remarkable
as I had very seldom seen any one engaged in prayer
in my father's house. From that time, amid all the
changes of my outward life, I never omitted the performance
of this duty; and until my conversion to
Christianity, it constituted all my religious worship.
The prayer I used ended with these remarkable
words:—'I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord!' I have
preserved the book containing it, and never look upon
it without adoring the goodness of that 'God of my
salvation,' who has condescended to bestow upon me,
at a matured age, the blessing that the child of nine
years' old, hardly knowing what he asked, failed not
to solicit from Him every night before he lay down
to rest.
"During the period in which I was engaged in my
studies, I occasionally experienced very peculiar
emotions. A poor woman used to sing psalms in the
street on Saturday evenings, to excite the compassion
of the passengers; and more than once have I left my
books to listen to her, overpowered by emotions which
I could neither comprehend nor describe. At the
theatre also, when Joseph in Egypt was represented,
my tears flowed at the sound of the morning prayer,
which was imitated from the Hebrew. At the
synagogue, however, which, for the sake of decorum,
I still frequented, nothing had the least power to
interest me. On the contrary, the unmeaning ceremonies
which appealed not to the heart, the want of
reverence, the bawling noise, the discordant singing,
and lastly, the employment of a language of which
three-fourths of the congregation did not understand
a word, disgusted me so much, that I ceased to attend
it regularly, having always a great aversion to hypocrisy.
"In the mean time, as if the tempter had foreseen
what was afterwards to take place, he induced my
friend and myself to change our mode of life. We
disliked half measures, and could not endure the
modern Judaism which chooses at its pleasure to dispense
with the requirements of the Mosaic law; we
therefore resolved to become Israelites indeed, rigidly
observing all the prescriptions of the law, and thus
compelling Christians to entertain a higher respect for
the Jewish religion. National pride was now our
ruling motive. In this spirit, and with these views,
we began assiduously to read the Bible. But, oh! the
shame and wretchedness of the unconverted heart!
We could not get beyond Genesis. Constant ridicule
and jesting, and oftentimes even blasphemy (Lord,
enter not into judgment with us!) were upon our lips
instead of prayer; so that I at length told my friend
it was better to abandon our reading altogether than
to engage in it in such a manner.
"Thus our proposed plan vanished like smoke. My
term of study was nearly completed. This was in
1818. I took my degrees in medicine, left the university,
and returned to my native city Amsterdam, full
of bright prospects for the future. I had an uncle
there, one of the first physicians in Holland, a learned
man, and highly esteemed by the principal families.
Having no children, he took me into his house and
adopted me as his son and successor. I was thus introduced
at once to an extensive circle of acquaintance;
kind and respectable, it is true, but with whom
Christianity was a mere outward profession accompanied
by an entirely worldly life. None of these
ever spoke to me on the subject of Christianity. I
have even heard some of my young friends make a
boast of their infidelity, and speak without reverence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I once expressed my
astonishment at this, and said, that though I did not
believe in Jesus, I thought that those who worshipped
Him, and did not consider Him to be God, were mere
idolaters. A young physician who was of the party,
who was afterwards savingly converted to God, told
me some years after, how much ashamed he felt at
the time, when receiving such a reproof from an
Israelite.
"In the midst of constant occupation, in the diligent
pursuit of scientific knowledge, I yet felt an aching
void within. I had been subject from childhood to an
oppression of the chest, which made me pass many
sleepless nights; and in these hours of wakefulness I
often thought, 'Why am I upon the earth? Why
was I created a man? Should I not be a thousand
times happier if I were one of the lower animals? I
should not then endure what I now suffer in my body
and in my soul.' Often did I cry out, 'O that this
day were my last!' Yet I was not disquieted on
account of my sins, else I should have shuddered at
the thought of death; I was under the burden and
curse of sin, without knowing it, or seeking for the
remedy.
"One day I went to pay a visit to my friend who
had been lately married. He had just received a
letter from the celebrated professor already mentioned.
'Would you like me to read it to you,' said he,
'together with some beautiful verses he has addressed
to me?' I gladly assented to the proposal. The
verses, in which he described, with power and feeling,
the glorious hopes of Israel, concluded with the words,
'Friend, be a Christian, and I die content.' At these
words, which he pronounced in an under tone, my
indignation was roused; my friend, it appeared to me,
was less shocked than he ought to have been. 'Take
care,' said I, 'there is a plan laid to seduce us.' I
left him immediately.
"This occupied my thoughts all the rest of the day.
I could not imagine how a man of such profound
learning could believe the Christian religion. From
that day, however, both my friend and myself began
attentively to examine the Word of God; and when
we walked together we conversed on those passages
that had struck us most. Having begun with the
Gospel of Matthew, it was striking to me to perceive,
that so far from seeking to subvert the authority of
the Old Testament, he made it the basis whereon to
build the Gospel of Christ.
"My friend and I spent several months in this way,
becoming daily more interested in our researches.
At length, with thoughts and feelings very different
from those which formerly possessed us, we again
determined to read the Scriptures together. For this
purpose we retired to a room in my father's house;
and I can never think without emotion on these hallowed
hours which we spent together, as in the
presence of the God of our fathers. Our interest increased
as we proceeded. My mind, wearied with vain speculations,
now saw a new and boundless field open before
it, towards which it was irresistibly attracted; and
thus before I had ever heard of the electing love of
God, I had experienced the power by which He draws
to Christ those souls whom He designs to bless. This
study of the word of God became at length the most
urgent desire of my soul. Merely to know the truth
did not satisfy me: I felt that I must really possess
it, and live on its substance. I understood not then
the work that was going on within me; but I occasionally
experienced moments of delight arising
from the conviction that divine assistance and protection
accompanied the course I was pursuing.
"One night, when reading the fifty-third chapter of
Isaiah, I was so much struck with its resemblance to
the account of the sufferings of Christ which I had
read in the Gospels, that I was almost convinced I
had got another Bible instead of my own; being
scarcely able to believe that this chapter, which may
be truly entitled an abstract of the Gospel, was really
in the Old Testament. 'How,' thought I, 'can any
Jew, after reading this chapter, doubt that Jesus Christ
is the promised Messiah!' Whence could this strong
conviction arise? I had often read this chapter before;
but now I read it with the light of the Spirit of God.
From this moment I recognized Christ as the promised
Messiah, and this gave an entirely new character to
our meditations on the Word of God. It was the dawn
of a glorious day to our souls, the light of which increased
more and more, enlightening our minds,
warming our hearts, and even then bestowing upon us
unspeakable consolation. Many of the enigmas of life,
which had hitherto puzzled and distressed me, were
now explained; everything seemed to revive around
me, and the object and interest of my life were entirely
changed. Happy days, thus gladdened by a sense of
the Master's presence! Never can I forget them!
"I believe it was by divine direction that my friend
and I did not disclose to any one what was passing in
our minds; and that we confined ourselves to the
study of God's Word, laying aside all other books
except Heydeck's 'Defence of the Christian Faith.'
This learned man had been a Rabbi in Germany, and
having embraced the Romish religion, was made
Professor of Oriental languages at Madrid. This
book, written with great talent, and much knowledge
of Scripture, is a defence of Christianity against
Rationalism. Its perusal was useful to us in two ways;
we found that the powerful logic with which he combated
the reasonings of Voltaire and Rousseau, entirely
deserted him when he attempted to defend Popery
against the doctrines of the Reformation.
"Whenever I had any leisure in the morning, I used
to shut myself up to read the Word of God, as I dared
not peruse it in my uncle's presence. One day I had
been particularly considering the following passage in
Isa. vii. 14, 'Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear
a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.' On going
down stairs I found a Jewish physician, a friend of my
uncle's, waiting for him in the ante-room. He was
turning over the leaves of a new edition of the Bible.
'There,' said he, 'is a fatal passage we cannot easily
wrest from the Christians.' It was the very passage
I had been meditating upon. My soul was deeply
moved, and I again perceived the guiding hand of my
God. 'Why, then,' I replied, 'should we not confess
the truth?' My uncle now entered, and enquired
what subject we were discussing. The physician
informed him; and knowing my uncle to be deeply
versed in the rabbinical writings, asked him what the
Rabbis say on the passage. 'Alas!' said my uncle,
'only a mass of nonsense.' With a beating heart
I listened to this admission; and inwardly thanked
God for having permitted me to hear these words
from the lips of one whose rabbinical learning made
him to be considered as an authority by the Jews.
"All these various circumstances convinced me more
and more that truth is to be found in Christianity
alone. I could not now be satisfied with mere knowledge,
I longed for love. Then it was that the sun of
righteousness shed abroad in our hearts, not only the
light that illuminates, but the quickening warmth
that enables the soul to live the life of God. I saw
that love had led the Saviour to seek me. I perceived
also my own sinful and miserable condition; but this
feeling seemed absorbed in a sense of the divine love.
In Christ I found my life,—the centre of all my
thoughts and affections,—the sole object that could fill
the void in my heart,—the key of all mysteries,—the
principal of all true philosophy, yea the truth itself.
"I daily felt more and more the necessity of openly
avowing my sentiments. I can record, to the glory
of God, that the certainty of losing a considerable
property, if I declared myself a Christian (which the
event has confirmed), never for a moment entered into
the scruples which made me hesitate. I dreaded the
effect of the disclosures on the kind relative who had
treated me as his son; on whose choleric temperament
it might produce an impression that, at his
advanced age, might be fatal. Doubtless, had my
faith been stronger, I should have broken through
every obstacle; but I could only suffer in silence, at
the same time earnestly praying to God to come to
my aid, and open a way before me.
"And the God of mercy attended to the voice of my
supplication. It was my uncle's custom to read the
newspaper aloud after dinner. One day when I was
sitting opposite to him in a state of great dejection, he
read out the following news from Hamburg:—'We
have just witnessed a very interesting event. A Rabbi,
after having announced to his co-religionists in the
synagogue, that an attentive examination of the
prophecies had convinced him that Messiah has already
come, and having made a confession of the
Christian faith, was baptized a few days since in this
city, and received as a minister of the gospel.' On
reading this, my uncle said the following words, which
the position I was then in rendered so remarkable:
'If this man has acted from self-interest, he is worthy
of contempt: but if from conviction, he ought to be
respected.' Oh, Christians! You who can sympathize
in the feelings of those like-minded with you, need I
describe to you what passed in my mind at this
solemn moment? In a transport of joy I fell on the
neck of the venerable old man, saying, 'Yes, uncle,
and it is God who makes you feel thus; know that
he whom you love with the tenderness of a father, is
in the same case with this Rabbi!' I pronounced
these words in such violent agitation, and in a tone so
unusual, that my poor uncle thought I was out of my
senses. He left the room for a few minutes, as if to
allow me to recover myself; and at his return began
to speak on a different subject.
"I could see that although my uncle was annoyed at
what had passed, he did not attach to my words the
importance they deserved. I therefore resolved, after
having strengthened myself in God, to make the same
declaration to him the following day. He could no
longer shut his eyes to what had taken place; and a
heart-rending scene followed. He beat his breast,
lamented that ever he was born, and exclaimed, in the
bitterness of his soul, that I was about to bring his
grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. His reproaches
went to my heart; but the Lord strengthened and
comforted me, and enabled me to shew the dear old
man such marks of tenderness as at length somewhat
soothed him.
"When the change became known to my family,
they first used gentle means with me, in the hope that
these new notions might pass away; but finding I
grew bold, and ventured to preach the gospel to them,
they resorted to harsh treatment. It was a season of
deep trial to my soul. This state of things increased
the ardent desire I felt publicly to confess Christ.
My family wished me to go into Germany, or some
other country, for this purpose; but to this I objected,
lest it should appear as if I were ashamed of the step I
was about to take. My friend and I at length decided
on Leyden as the place where we should receive the
rite of baptism. The 20th of October, 1822, was the
day so ardently desired, on which we were admitted
members of the Church of Christ. Kneeling in the
presence of the congregation, before the God of our
fathers, who is the true God—Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit—we had the unspeakable joy, unworthy sinners
as we were, to confess before the Christian Church, the
blessed name of that great God and Saviour who had
come to seek and save us when we were lost. Glory
be to God."
Among Capadose's writings, the most noteworthy
are: (1) "Aan mijne geloofsgenooten in de Ned.
Heb. Gem.," The Hague, 1843. (2) "Overdenkingen
over Israel's Roeping en Toekomst," Amsterdam,
1843. (3) "Rome en Jerusalem," Utrecht, 1851.
Caplan, Rev. W. H., was a native of the Baltic
provinces. He was converted to Christianity through
the reading of the New Testament, which he received
from a friend at home. He then went to London for
the purpose of being able the more easily to make a
public profession of his faith, and was baptized there
about 1876. In 1877 he became assistant to the Rev.
Theodore Meyer, of the Presbyterian Mission in
Whitechapel. After a few years he studied at King's
College, and was ordained to the ministry of the
Church of England in 1885. Then he became curate in
several churches in England, and finally emigrated to
Canada, where he is doing good work in the Canadian
Church.
Carlton, Rev. S. J., a native of Silesia, baptized in
the Irish Presbyterian Mission at Hamburg, about
1892. Subsequently he joined the Church of England,
studied at Ayerst Hall, Cambridge, was L.J.S.
missionary curate at St. Benet's, Stepney, then curate
at St. Jude's, Mildmay, 1901-4; St. Peter's, Cricklewood,
1904-6; St. Mary Magdalene, Peckham, 1906-8;
and vicar of All Saints, Camberwell, from 1908.
Carret, Ludwig, a convert who lived at the beginning
of the seventeenth century, wrote a Hebrew
letter giving an account of the history of his conversion.
This letter appeared in the Appendix in Buxtorf's
Synagogue Judaica (de le Roi), but not in all
editions.
Caro, Pastor F., convert and missionary of the
Berlin Society in 1845-8, had the privilege of baptizing
a Jewish lady in her ninetieth year, in the presence
of all her children, one of whom was the above-named
Branis.
Caro, Regierungsrath in Merseburg, is recorded
as having rendered the Government good
service, especially in the educational department, in the
19th century, and that he was a devoted Christian.
Caspari, Carl Paul. Norway during the nineteenth
century found her most pre-eminent witness for
Christ and defender of Christianity in that son of
Israel whose name is mentioned above. Carl Paul
Caspari was born at Dessau 1814. His parents were
orthodox Jews, and his father was a merchant there.
In this city, which through Moses Mendelssohn has
become so celebrated, the Jewish community influenced
many of its citizens in a remarkable manner,
on account of their ability and intelligence. They
established a Jewish seminary, which was called after
Prince Francis, "The Francis School." It gained a
great reputation, and even attracted Christian pupils.
German services were held in the synagogue, at that
period an unheard-of innovation. The religious
instruction in the school was given in an enlightened
spirit. Caspari imbibed this influence, and when he
attended the Gymnasium it obtained complete control
over him. In 1834 he went to Leipsig, in order to
study Oriental languages. Here he read the Old
Testament diligently, but he found in it only the
teaching he had formerly received. The New
Testament he could not accept. However, he was
animated by a strong sense of duty, and he inscribed
on his desk the motto, "Thou canst, therefore thou
oughtest." Yet he soon became convinced that his will
was a very feeble instrument. At this period, Granel,
who had formerly been his schoolmate at Dessau,
and who afterwards was so well known as the
Superintendent of the Saxon Foreign Missions,
became Caspari's faithful friend and wise counsellor.
Granel persuaded him to carefully read the New
Testament. He opened the book at the Acts of the
Apostles and read of Paul's persecution by the Jews.
He was impressed with the truthfulness of the
narrative, and so he concluded to continue his
reading. When he reached the Gospels, the words of
Christ and the accounts of His wonderful miracles
greatly affected him. The thought came to him.
"Perhaps Jesus can also help me out of all this
misery which I find in my soul," and, as he a year
before his death said, "I came to Him as to my living
Saviour—just as in the days of His flesh men sought
comfort from Him." Pastor Wolf, of Leipsig, and
the young theologian, Franz Delitzsch, afterwards
the celebrated professor, together with Granel, dealt
with him faithfully in this time of struggle, and
because the young man was sincere the conflict ended
in his victory. At Pentecost, in 1838, he received
from the same Pastor Zehme, in Leipsig, who had
previously baptized Freidrich Adolph Philippi, Holy
Baptism. He now discontinued his former studies and
devoted himself to the study of theology, giving especial
attention to the Old Testament. After leaving the
university he was at first a private scholar, and as such
wrote an exposition of the prophecy of Obadiah, and
also the first volume of an Arabic grammar, which was
translated into several languages, and is in use
to-day. He declined a call to the Königsberg
university, because he wished to work only in a
Lutheran institution. He received a call to such an
one in 1847, namely, to the Norwegian university at
Christiania, where he displayed his great powers as a
theologian. He wrote expositions of many books of
the Old Testament, and performed especial service in
editing the newly revised Bible in Norwegian, which
is now used in the churches of that country. The
question of the signification of the Apostles' Creed,
which through Grundtvig, had greatly agitated the
Northern Evangelical churches, led him in 1858 to a
thorough investigation of this ancient Confession of
Faith. He decided that the Creed undoubtedly had
its formation in the times of the Apostles, that it had
become part of the life of the Church, but that the
Holy Scriptures alone had been and must remain the
standard of belief, and to which all the teachers of
the Church from its foundation until Grundtvig had
adhered. The Apostles' Creed had not always had
this authority, nor is it the direct word of Jesus
Christ, but it stands for an expression of the primitive
faith, and he who disputes its truth should not be
considered a Christian. Caspari received abundant
thanks for his labours. The city of Erlangen bestowed
upon him the title of "Doctor of Theology." Many
philosophical societies elected him to their membership,
and Swedish and Norwegian Orders gave him
honors. He ever retained true affection for his own
Jewish people, and often spoke eloquently in behalf
of Jewish missions. In 1865 he became President of
the Norwegian Central Committee for Jewish missions,
and later a Director of the Lutheran Central
Societies at Leipsic. He served with especial diligence
at the Students' Missionary Association at
Christiania, where a conference was held over Jewish
missions. He divided his discourse into four points,
including the following questions and answers:
I.—Is Jewish mission work necessary? Yes;
because without it the majority of the Jews would
never be reached by the preaching of the Gospel.
II.—How shall they be converted? By establishing
in every Church societies of earnest Christians,
who shall support proselytes from Judaism as missionaries
among their own people.
III.—How shall these missionaries carry on their
work? Not by dispute and argument, which create
only intellectual knowledge, but through the promulgation
of the way of salvation, must the Jews
embrace the truths of Christianity, through which
Christians also are converted.
IV.—How are the converts to be treated? Possibly
they might primarily be organized into circles, in
order to serve as leaven among their friends, but much
depends upon their various former environments.
The idea of a Jewish national existence greatly
impressed him, and he clung firmly to this hope for
Israel's future. In 1891 he had the pleasure of
appointing the first Norwegian Jewish missionary.
After a remarkable, important and richly blessed
activity for the Church of Christ, he fell asleep in
1892. Professor Bang called him "the Teacher of all
Scandinavia," and testified that his death should be
considered as an historical Church calamity. Caspari
himself cherished but one ambition, to live and die in
favour with Christ Jesus, and depended to the last on
the Saviour's word, "Him that cometh unto Me, I
will in no wise cast out."
Some of Caspari's works are as follows:
(1) "Commentar über Obadja," Leipzig, 1842,
followed by (2) "Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Buch
Jesaia." (3) "Untersuchungen über den Syrisch
Ephraimitischen Krieg unter Jotham und Ahas,"
Christiania, 1849. (4) "Commentar zu Micha," ib.,
1852. (5) "Theile des Jesaia seit 1853." (6) "Zur
Einführung in das Buch Daniel," Leipzig, 1869.
(7) "Quellen der Geschichte des Taufsymbols und der
Glaubensregel," Christiania, 1868-9. (8) "Grammatica
Arabica," Leipzig, 1842-48; a second edition appeared
in 1866.
Cassel, Paulus (Selig), was one of the most distinguished
Hebrew Christians whom Germany produced
during the 19th century, and one of the most remarkable
missionaries ever in the Society's ranks.
Speaking of the necessity of writing a history of
converted Jews, the "Jewish Chronicle" said that the
most important chapter of it would be that which,
concerning Germany, contained the lives of such men
as Benfey, Bernhardy, Lehrs, Neander and Veith;
and after them should be mentioned Cassel, who
became a pillar of the Reformed Church, and acknowledged
that "a genius like Cassel is always an
honour to his former brethren in the faith," whilst
wondering that one who observed for so many years
the Jewish ceremonial laws, ate at the table of Jacob
Joseph Ettinger, the rabbi of Berlin, who was
the admirer of Michael Sachs, and the author of the
article, "History of the Jews," in Ersch and Grüber's
great "Encyclopædia of Science," could have embraced
the Christian faith.[10] It was indeed a strange
spectacle, and a sorrowful one withal, for every Jew
with any feeling whatever, to see Paulus Cassel
teaching Christianity in the same city of Berlin,
where his brother, David, was a well-known rabbi,
training young men for the Jewish ministry.
We must, however, first speak of his early years.
Selig Cassel, to give him his Jewish name, was born at
Glogau, in Silesia, on February 27th, 1821, of Jewish
parents. He was educated at the Gymnasia of Glogau
and Schweidnitz, and subsequently at the university
of Berlin, where he made a special study of history as
a pupil of the famous historian, Dr. Ranke.
Cassel took his degree at Berlin and Licentiatus
Theologiæ in due course, and received the faculty for
headmaster for all classes of the gymnasium in Latin,
Greek, theology, history, geography and German
literature. He then, for a time, was on the journalistic
staff of the "Constitutionelle Zeitung" in Berlin.
Afterwards, in 1850, Cassel went to Erfurt, where he
was the editor of the "Erfurter Zeitung" from 1850 to
1856.
His Christian friends, and especially, according to
his own statement, his study of the history of Israel,
led him to Christianity, which he embraced in 1855,
being baptized at Büssleben, a village near Erfurt, on
May 28, and receiving the names "Paulus Stephanus."
Every year subsequently he was wont to celebrate
this "second birthday," as he called it, amidst his
friends and congregation.
We now come to the second period of Cassel's life,
as a renowned Christian writer, preacher and orator.
For a few years Cassel remained in the town, where
the great change in his life had taken place, and
became custodian of the public library and secretary
of the "Erfurt Academy." He was then called to
Berlin by the Prime Minister, who entrusted him
with the editorship of the official "Deutsche Reform."
He resigned this post in six months' time to return
to his beloved books and studies at Erfurt.
At this time honours were showered upon him.
King Frederick William IV. of Prussia honoured him
with the title of "Professor." The University of
Erlangen conferred on him the degree of "Licentiatus
Theologiæ." Afterwards, in Vienna, Cassel obtained
that of "Doctor Theologiæ" (Doctor of Divinity). In
1859 he returned to Berlin and delivered public
lectures, which were more and more largely attended
and appreciated by both Jews and Gentiles. These
lectures made him known throughout the capital and
the country.
Dr. Cassel was elected a member of the "Landtag,"
the Prussian Parliament, in 1866, and became a
prominent member of the Conservative party. As
this took him too much from his literary work, he
soon laid this mandate down.
In 1868, the third and most famous portion of
Cassel's life commenced, when the Society appointed
him their missionary in Berlin and minister of Christ
Church, a stately Gothic building, with over a
thousand sittings, erected by the Society in the
Wilhelmstrasse, in 1864.
For twenty-three years many children of Israel
heard the Gospel from Dr. Cassel's lips both in
Berlin and other places of Germany, and indeed of
Europe. The good done by means of his sermons
and lectures can never be fully estimated; and, in
addition to this, numbers of Jews were influenced in
a Christian direction by his numerous publications.
It would be impossible for us to follow the
indefatigable missionary in his multifarious activities
in Berlin and in Germany generally during these
busy years; but we may be allowed to quote from a
published letter which he addressed in 1887 to English
friends, entitled, "Thoughts on the Jewish Mission":
"Invitations came to give lectures in places at a
distance. A dear friend of mine shewed me in 1860
a map of Germany, on which he marked all the towns
in which I have lectured. Since then I have delivered
over a thousand original lectures in Berlin and
elsewhere. God's hand has guided me everywhere.
My journeys have extended from Amsterdam to
Buda-Pesth. I always had an attentive audience,
and the poorer people in both large and small towns
heard the Word with gladness—nay, even with
enthusiasm.
"During the anti-Semitic agitation, such journeys
for the purpose of delivering lectures were more
extensive. I had then become known through my
defence of Gospel charity, even in circles which were
not outwardly known as Christian. The meetings
which were held at the period resembled more nearly
the ideal at which I aimed. A considerable number
of persons listened to the lectures, who had completely
turned their backs on the Church."
Speaking of his ministerial and missionary work
in Christ Church, the doctor said:
"The special blessing of the Church consisted in
the regular exposition of the Old Testament. It has
been my custom to expound the Old Testament
every Sunday evening, from the first Sunday I came
into office (Jan. 5th, 1868) up to the present time.
It was the first time in Berlin that this was made a
practice. There were, therefore, from the very beginning
hearers, consisting of Jews and earnest Christians.
Those expository sermons have been the greatest
blessing, and have specially united me to the congregation."
Professor Cassel baptized 262 Jews in Christ
Church; amongst them doctors, authors, merchants,
nearly all educated persons. But, as he said, "I am
not fond of statistics. I sow the seed, but do not
stop to ask how much may be the fruit."
Dr. Cassel was an ardent lover of his own
people. "Though he has left us, he was by no means
our enemy. He still fights against those who hate the
Jews," said the "Jewish Chronicle." It was he who
raised his voice against Stöcker in Berlin, and
endeavoured by voice and pen to soften down the
excitement and anger of German Protestants, and to
secure the peace of his former brethren in the faith.
In the spring of 1891, when he retired from his
duties, Dr. Cassel did not cease to preach, wherever
an occasion offered, and he continued to write. So
great was his love and zeal that he could not forego
instructing and baptizing Jews who wished to become
members of the Church of Christ through his instrumentality.
The number of his converts must exceed
some hundreds. Many of them were in high
positions, and residing in various parts of the world.
Dr. Cassel's death took place, after great sufferings,
on December 23rd, 1893, his last words being, "Wo
ist denn das Himmelreich?" His funeral was held on
December 27th in the afternoon. In Christ Church,
where the coffin had been placed before the communion-table,
a funeral sermon was preached by the
Rev. Pastor Weser from St. John i. 12. The Rev.
Dr. Dryander, the General Superintendent of the
Lutheran community, also addressed the congregation.
After the service within the sacred edifice the
obsequies were completed, in the presence of a large
concourse of friends, at the old Jerusalem Cemetery,
where Dr. Cassel's mortal remains lie in their last
resting-place.
We append a few testimonies to the life, example,
and powerful influence of Dr. Cassel:
Mr. C. Urbschat, of Königsberg, who for several
years worked under Dr. Cassel in Berlin, wrote of his
labours:—
"Professer Cassel was a highly educated missionary,
and showed extraordinary ability in influencing the
higher classes of Jews in favour of Christianity by his
lectures and by his pleadings on their behalf. He
was a man of profound learning, of great diligence,
and of restless zeal in propagating the Gospel of his
Master amongst Jews and Christians."
The "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums" said:—
"When the anti-Semites began to show themselves,
Cassel remembered his origin, and opposed the
leaders, Stöcker, Wagner, and others with great
decision and manliness. It was this manly action
that gives us some satisfaction for his desertion of
the parental religion. We have to judge this apostasy
very differently from that of many others in former
and present times, as he did not forsake his old creed
for any worldly reason, or to get honours and position,
but rather because he followed a mystical line of
thought. God alone can judge the veracity and
purity of his life; we dare not. 'Peace be to his
ashes!'"
Of the two brothers who, though divided in life,
died about the same time, the Jewish Chronicle
remarked:—"The deaths of David and Paulus
(formerly Selig) Cassel remove two brothers, both
of whom had won a place for themselves among
the honoured names of Jewish scholarship.... Paulus
was the greater man of the two, a scholar and writer
of a higher type, and his works will live. He took a
worthy part in the struggle against anti-Semitism.
Paulus Cassel was perhaps the first man to recognise
what was really meant by writing a history of the Jews."
One of Dr. Cassel's numerous converts, baptized
by him in 1870, sent the following most touching
tribute to his memory:—"There was no way of his
life in which he failed to shine. Study and knowledge
sealed in his heart the great truths of religion. His
was the faith which is clothed in wisdom; his the
wisdom which is hallowed by faith. His faith was
to him, as it should be to all of us, an armed angel.
His affectionate heart not only throbbed with love for
his own kindred, but was alive to sympathy with
those who needed it. I always found him benevolent
and singularly gentle. He taught the world that the
Jew, hitherto despised, must be despised no more; he
conquered a place in society, in the highest society—the
intellectual circle—for the people of his faith.
And this victory he won, not by dint of clamour, or
falseness, or obstrusive self-assertion, but by the force
of his own intellectual powers, his unsullied integrity,
his admirable character. Dr. Cassel gave mankind a
useful lesson, a touching example, a glorious spectacle:
he showed how a Christian Jew lives! His knowledge
was the altar on which he stood to worship the great
God-man! History confirms the truth, which the
Psalmist, whose music he loved, taught mankind ages
ago—that, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom.'"
The industry of Dr. Cassel was truly prodigious,
and was especially evidenced by the large number
and character of his writings.
A complete list of all his books and pamphlets
would fill a large space, so mention can be made
only of his more important writings, namely:—"Juden
Geschichte" in Ersch and Grüber (1847), "Magyarische
Altertumer" (1848), "Von Warschau bis Olmutz"
(1851), "Thüringische Ortsnamen" (1856-58), "Eddische
Studien" (1856), "Rose und Nachtigall" (1860),
"Weihnachten, Ursprünge, Bräuche und Aberglauben"
(1862), "Die Schwalbe" (1869), "Drachenkämpfe"
(1869), "Vom Wege nach Damascus" (1872), "Name
und Beruf" (1874), "Löwenkämpfe von Nemea bis
Golgotha" (1875), "Das Buch Esther" (1878), translated
by the Rev. A. Bernstein into English and
published by T. and T. Clark of Edinburgh (1888),
"Vom Nil zum Ganges" (1879), "Christliche Sittenlehre"
(1880), "Aus literatur und Symbolik" (1884),
"Sabbatarche Errinerungen," "Die Hochzeit von
Cana" (1884), "Aus Literatur und Geschichte"
(1885), "Aus dem Lande des Sonnenaufgangs" (1885),
"Kritische Sendschreiben über die Probebibel" (1885),
"Wie ich über Judenmission denke" (1886), "Das
900 jährige Jubiläum der russischen Kirche" (1888),
"Aletheia, Vorträge" (1890), "Das 1000 jährige
Reich" (1890). For Lange's Bible-Commentary he
wrote the expositions on the books of Judges and
Ruth. His works against anti-Semitism were "Wider
Heinrich von Treitschke für die Juden" (1880), "Die
Antisemiten und die Evangelische Kirche" (1881),
"Ahasverus" (1885), and "Der Judengott und Richard
Wagner." Dr. Cassel composed many poems under
the title, "Hallelujah," containing 188 hymns, and
also some dramas (Vom Könige, Das neue Schauspiel,
Der Weiner Congress, Paulus at Damascus, Paulus
at Cyprus, &c.)
From 1875-91 Dr. Cassel edited and published a
weekly paper, "For Christian life and knowledge,"
entitled "Sunem."
Such, in conclusion, was this truly wonderful son of
Israel, and follower of Christ. His gigantic intellect,
marvellous ability, persuasive oratory, brilliant pen,
were alike consecrated to the service of his Lord and
Master, and to the spiritual welfare of his brethren.
Sage, philosopher, scholar, author, preacher and
missionary, he was a king amongst his fellow-men.
His name will live immortal in the annals of Jewish
and Jewish missionary literature.
Cerf, Karl Friedrich, born in 1782, died 1845, embraced
Christianity. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. conferred
upon him the title of Royal Commissionsrath for
services rendered.
Cerf, Friedrich Rudolf, with his wife, Angelica
Henrietta, née Israel, belonging to Mendelssohn's circle,
were baptized at Schöneback in 1818, and their
daughter in 1822.
Cherskier, a convert in Warsaw, translated the
Book of Common Prayer into Hebrew in 1836, since
when 26,000 copies have been issued by the L.J.S.
Cherski, Reuben, a native of Thorn, was brought
up in Leipzig. When quite a youth he entered a
Christian Church, for which offence he was locked up
by his father in a cupboard. Sometime after he heard
Biesenthal and Poper speak to the Jews about Christ
at the Leipzig book fair. Then he found a New
Testament among his father's books, and read St. John
iii., and was punished by him for doing so, forbidding
him to read it again. After this he received another
New Testament from a colporteur of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, and read it with a pricked
conscience for disobeying his father. Then, after he
and his father were saved by Christians from a fire at
Eisenach, he, being now seventeen years of age, left for
Frankfort to seek a livelihood there. Through a
paternal friend he got employment in the office of the
"Freund Zeitung." The chief editor, Israel Harsch,
one day in a walk pointed out to him a man in
clerical costume, wearing gold spectacles, with a
countenance of great gentleness, by saying, "He is a
Meshummad, a missionary to the Jews." Cherski
now recollected that he had seen him once at
Leipzig, and was warned to keep aloof from him.
However, from that time he began to attend Dr. Poper's
meetings, at one of which he met Dr. Biesenthal too,
listened to their lectures, and left for Paris apparently
unimpressed. Then he met Poper again, received from
him the tract "Messiah, the Son of David, is also the
Son of God," became a changed man, wrote to his
father a confession of his faith in Christ, returned to
Frankfort, where he found that his fiancée, Lydia, had
in the meanwhile also been converted.
Christian, Gustav Christopher, baptized at
Nüremberg 1719, and died there about 1735. He was
the author of two Judæo-German works—"Yesod
Emunath Yeshua" (The basis of the Faith of
Jesus), Berlin, 1712; and "Die Bekehrung's Israel,"
Schwabach, 1722.
Christiani, Friedrich Albrecht, was born in the
middle of the seventeenth century, died at Prostnitz at the
beginning of the eighteenth century. He was baptized
in 1674 at Strassburg, having formerly been the Chazzan
(Precentor) at Bruchsal. After having occupied
for twenty years the chair of Semitics at the university
of Leipzig, he retired to Prostnitz. Christiani's works
comprise the following, all published at Leipzig.
(1) "Zebah Pesah" (The sacrifice of Easter), an
account of the Jewish celebration of Easter in the
time of Jesus, and at the present. (2) "Seudath
Purim" (The meal of Purim), 1677, a description of
Jewish fasting and feasting. (3) "Zahakan Melumad
Umethareth" (The Scholarly Gambler repenting) 1683,
a German translation of the work of Leon of Modena
on gambling. (4) "Abravanel's Commentary on
the first prophets, with a Latin index," 1686. (5) "The
text of Jonah with the Targum Massorah and the
commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Kimchi and
Abravanel, and a Hebrew Latin Vocabulary," 1683.
(6) "Iggereth" (Letter) 1676, The Epistle of St. Paul
to the Hebrews, translated from the Greek into
Hebrew. (7) "Traktat von dem Glauben und Unglauben
der Juden," 1713.
Christiani, Moritz Wilhelm, born at Altorf at the
end of the seventeenth century, died at Prague, 1740,
probably a member of the Keyser family of Schleusingen,
Bavaria. He claimed to have been a rabbi at
Schleusingen before his baptism in 1715. Christiani
wrote: (1) "Kurze Beschreibung einer Jüdischen
Synagogue und eine Beschreibung der Synagogalen
Gebraüche," Regensburg, 1723. (2) "Die Schlacht
und Visiterkunst, ib., 1724." (3) "Ausgang von dem
verstockten Judenthum und Eingang zum wahren
Christenthum," an account of his conversion, his profession
of faith, and several orations, Erfurt, 1720.
(4) "Rede zur Einladung für Rabbinische Studien,"
written in Hebrew and German, inserted in "Johann
David Köhler's Program," Altorf, 1785. (5) "A
German translation of the Sefer ha Minhagim of
Jacob Levi (Matta Ril)," published at Bremen, 1733.
Christian, Friedrich Ernest (as a Jewish teacher
called Abraham Saul), was baptized with his wife
and two grown-up sons by Pastor Stemnitz in 1772.
Christmann was baptized in 1775.
Christlieb, Wilhelm, declared that it was a sermon
which he heard preached to the Jews by Pastor Dekan
Soldanus in the town hall of Cassel which convinced
him of the truth of the Gospel. He was baptized in
1785.
Christlieb, Friedrich Wilhelm, another convert,
made himself particularly obnoxious to the Jews by
attacking the Talmud in a bitter spirit. He wrote:
"Greuel der Verwüstung des heiligen Jerusalem durch
den jüdischen Talmud," Cassel, 1681. "Lästerungen
der Juden gegen Christum," ib., 1682. A theological
treatise: "Jesus Christ und Sohn Gottes nach Kabbalistischer
Art erwiesen," Rinteln, 1697.
Christhold, Christian Albert, born in 1687, was
baptized when young with his mother. He had great
talents, so that at the age of 23, in 1700, he was appointed
Rector of the Gymnasium in Oettingen, when
he wrote a Latin treatise advocating toleration and
liberty to the Jews. He was afterwards a faithful
minister of the Gospel till his death in 1772. Schulze
said of him, "I have hitherto not found anyone like
him."
Christhold, Christiane Sophie Magdalene (Judith),
a relative of the above, followed his example.
Christfels, Philipp Ernst (Mordecai), born at Neuhaus,
1671, son of Moses Shemaja, received a good
rabbinic and German education. Being of a disputatious
disposition, he very often in his wanderings
disputed with Christians on religious subjects, amongst
whom was the well-known Wagenseil. A learned
rabbi, by the name of Hirsch Froman, once advised
him to read the New Testament. Another Rabbi,
Abraham Reviga, Kabbalist, with whom he studied,
intimated to him that under the attribute called
Binah is to be understood the Son of God. This
made him restless, but at the same time enquiring.
He was finally, after nine months' instruction, baptized
in 1701. Christfels was the author, before his baptism,
of a book in Hebrew, entitled "Rephuah Hanephesh,"
"Soul-Medicine," and after he became a Christian,
the Pentateuch with the Targum's and Rashi's commentaries
were printed under his supervision.
Christian, Gottlob Meyer (Abraham Meyer), baptized
by Schulze (the celebrated missionary of Callenberg
Inst.), in 1769. He afterwards studied Theology.
Christianus, Paulus, embraced Christianity
about the beginning of the eighteenth century, together
with his son. The latter suffered martyrdom (de le
Roi, i. 131).
Christlieb, Johann Ludwig Karl Friedrich (Aaron
Mendel), was baptized by the Court preacher Kern, in
the eighteenth century.
Cohen, Dr. Medicinalrath, a convert, at Posen, between
1830-40, took a lively interest in the evangelization
of his brethren, and encouraged the missionaries
Händler and Bellson in their labours.
Cohen, Esther, baptized at Constantinople in 1873,
was a deaconess at Mildmay, and was sent in 1885 to
Jaffa as a missionary.
Cohen, Rev. James, was all his life an ardent supporter
of missions to the Jews, and for many years a
member of the L.J.S. Committee. As far back as
1849 he delivered an address to the students in the
Hebrew College. He was for many years Rector of
Whitechapel, where he eloquently preached both by
word and pen. Later he was Vicar of Heston.
Cohen, Joseph Philipp, born in Prussia, was converted
at Swansea, a narrative of which he gave in a
little tract, entitled "The Sweetness of Christianity,"
London, 1845. It was chiefly owing to his being of a
serious turn of mind that he felt the need of redemption
from his sins, and that made him study diligently the
Old Testament. Afterward a lady gave him a New
Testament, and the first passage that met his eye was,
"Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest." He was later a missionary
of the British Society until 1873. After that time he
continued his calling independently.
Cohen, J. John Baptist, after much suffering on
account of his conversion to Christianity, was employed
by Lewis Way as an evangelist in Smyrna, and remained
there when Lewis Way left the station in
1837.
Coral, J. N., a native of Rhodes, embraced Christianity
in Jerusalem some time between 1860 and 1870.
He was a very earnest and loving man, an acceptable
preacher of the Gospel in Judæo-Spanish and in
Hebrew to his Sephardic brethren. He did excellent
work when he used to visit with the writer the towns
of Palestine in 1871-2.
Coresh, Daniel, a convert, mentioned in Wolff,
Bibliotheca Hebraica 3. N, published at Amsterdam a
Latin treatise in 1727, under the title "Quinque aperti
flores collecti ex horto malogranatorum et in fascicula
digesti." He states there that he had then lived in
Amsterdam as a Christian for fifteen years, so that he
must have been baptized in 1712.
Da Costa, Isaac. Much has been written about
this great son of Abraham, and the following is a short
account of his conversion from his own pen:—
"You request of me, dear brother, some account of
my conversion to the Christian religion, and to the
faith in Jesus Christ; and I cannot refuse to tell the
things which the God of our fathers has wrought in
my soul. I will cheerfully join my testimony with
that of my brethren, both by nature and in grace, who
endeavour to instruct others and to teach their hearts
by retracing the ways of God towards them in His
providence and His grace.
"To set His dispensations towards me in a clearer
light, I must refer to many long past events. A son of
Israel is constantly reminded that his personal history
is closely linked with that of his fathers. I must then
crave indulgence for prefacing my account with some
particulars respecting my parentage, which I derive
from one of the Jewish families that have for several
ages dwelt in the Spanish peninsula. Some of my
ancestors in that country professed Catholicism, first
by compulsion; and afterwards (a case by no means
uncommon in the history of our people in Spain and
Portugal) from conviction, or, at least, in sincerity.
Humanly speaking, we might still have inhabited that
country, and professed the Romish faith; but one of
the members of our family, Canon Tresonis, of the
collegiate church of Oporto, gave up, in consequence
of his doubts on religion, his office and his country to
return to the Synagogue of his ancestors.
"We learn from various biographical works[11] the
history of Gabriel (Judaic Uriel) da Costa (Latin,'a
Costa') who with his younger brothers, was circumcised
at Amsterdam, where, after falling into complete infidelity,
he ended his life very unhappily. It is from
one of these younger brothers, Joseph da Costa, that I
take my descent, by the direct male line. My family
belonged, during two centuries, to the Spanish and
Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam, where it enjoyed
all the privileges which Holland then presented to my
nation in its exile and tribulation. My father, who
shared in the sentiment of devotedness to the house of
Orange, so common amongst the Jews, and who was
therefore very inimical to the revolution, educated me
in the same principles. He was a very upright man,
and gifted with a large share of good sense; and my
education was to him an object of the most affectionate
care and solicitude. His religious principles were by
no means those of a strict Jew, although he maintained
a decorous respect for the outward ordinances of
religion. My mother was much more inclined to the
religious observances of modern Judaism.
"From childhood my mind had been partially influenced
by a sort of religious instinct, a vague desire to
know and to serve God, whilst I was, at the same time,
involved in doubt and uncertainty, both as to Revelation
itself, and with regard to the ordinances, and the oral
traditions of the rabbis. At times I strenuously addicted
myself to the devotional use of the prayers, the
rites and commandments of my religion; at others, I
relapsed into doubt, and gave way to a distaste for all
these outward observances. The scoffing and irreligious
philosophy of the eighteenth century inspired
me with horror; and my attention was earnestly
directed to the acquiring of an intelligent conviction
respecting the existence and government of God, and
the immortality of the soul. But the books I consulted
in my search into these high interests failed to
afford me satisfaction. Their arguments were not of
sufficient weight fully to convince me of their truth,
nor did their reasonings fix me in complete incredulity.
Materialism alarmed, distressed, and shocked me.
But the subtleties of Plato, of Mendelssohn, and others,
could not reach my heart, nor warm it. My mind
was at that time far from being convinced of the
historical fact of Revelation, or of the veracity of the
Old Testament, of Moses, and the Prophets. And
although in the midst of this uncertainty, I still clung
to the great recollections of my nation from a feeling
of natural pride, my commerce with unbelievers, and
my study of philosophers, had wrought in my mind
so far as to exclude the idea of an immediate and
positive revelation. I had formed a sort of deistical
system, in which were mingled rabbinical and Mosaic
principles. I looked upon Jesus Christ as a light
proceeding from Israel for the illumination of the
Gentiles: meanwhile the vanities of the world and sin
ruled in my daily life. Such was the state of my
mind when in the providence of God two events occurred
which had a marked influence on my future
course.
"My father, perceiving my inclination for study,
destined me to the career of jurisprudence, a pursuit
which, though formerly closed to the Jews, had been
partially opened to them since the revolution of 1795.
From the age of thirteen to fifteen years (1811-1813),
having attended regularly the Latin classes in
my native city of Amsterdam, I began a course of
lessons with the Professor of Antiquities and Literature,
a man of learning, and possessed of a highly refined
taste. His historical lectures gave him ample opportunity
for asserting and setting in a conspicuous
light the truth and high authority of the writings of
Moses, and he earnestly vindicated those records from
the sophisms and fallacies of Voltaire, and the other
sceptics of the age. The idea of a positive revelation
was now awakened in my mind; I began to believe
in the divinity of the Old Testament, and this great
truth gradually developed, was to me as a beacon
amidst doubt and obscurity. Revealed religion, the
divine authority of the Bible, is an historical fact.
"My study of the Bible history was soon followed
by enquiries which originated partly, I must own, from
national pride. In the midst of the contempt and
dislike of the world for the name of Jew, I had ever
gloried in it. I began, therefore, to study the history
of our families, and of our nation, in Spain and
Portugal, in respect to its theology—its poetry—its
attainments in science—its political and diplomatic
position, taking a general review of its prosperity and
of its astonishing calamities. Throughout their history,
both ancient and modern, I perceived something so
extraordinary as to be quite inexplicable, unless we
view the Jews as the subjects of remarkable privileges,
and of as remarkable a downfall; of a special election
of God, and of an enormous crime on the part of the
elect people. It was thus that the consideration of
Judaism prepared me for the knowledge of that
religion, which alone is the solution and the fulfilment
of the pure and divine Judaism of the Old Testament.
"Another circumstance in my life tended to my
further enlightenment. The perusal of the ancient
classics, the political events of 1813 and 1815, even
the study of the history of my fathers according to the
flesh, awakened in my soul the faculties of poetry.
As a youthful poet, I was presented by a learned
Hebraist of our nation to the greatest of our Dutch
contemporary poets, the celebrated Bilderdyk, who
died at the age of 75 years in 1831. He was a
remarkable man in all respects, and one whose
political and religious convictions, and originality of
mind and character, had armed all this present age,
at least in his own country, against him. Misunderstood,
persecuted, banished in 1795, and harassed by all
sorts of misfortunes, he had found from his youth,
strength and consolation in the Gospel of Christ. Attached
in heart to the truths of the confession of the
Reformed Churches, he had besides early perceived the
glorious future, announced by the prophets to the
ancient people of God, and how their conversion to
the Messiah, crucified by them, would be one day to
the nations at large like life from the dead. From
thence arose a particular attachment to Israel for their
fathers' sake, and for the love of Christ, who sprung
from Israel according to the flesh. Very naturally, I
felt strongly drawn towards this extraordinary man,
I became his disciple, and also his intimate friend for
eighteen years to the day of his death. It is to him,
under the hand of God, and through His adorable
grace, that I saw the light which led me to the Christian
religion, and to the faith in Jesus, my Saviour, and
my God. Not that Bilderdyk ever sought to make a
proselyte of his young disciple. With a wisdom
which I can attribute to nothing but the direction of
the Almighty, he rather endeavoured not to sway my
mind by the influence which his superior intelligence
gave him over me. He only endeavoured to render
me more of an Israelite than is consistent with the
wisdom of the present age. He spoke to me of the
Old Testament; he directed my attention to the
prophecies, to the promises given to the fathers, to the
portions of revealed truth, preserved even in the traditions
of the Rabbis (Messiah ben David and Messiah
ben Joseph, &c.) Especially he tried to make
me feel that the true Christian shares in the hopes of
Israel in regard to a glorious reign of Messiah upon
the throne of David; and that on the other hand (it
is thus that he expressed himself in a piece of poetry
which he addressed to me in 1819), the sincere Jew is
a Christian in hope.
"Soon the hand of God led us further on. It was in
1820. Bilderdyk and I were engaged in a deeply
serious conversation on the things of God and of truth.
In the ardour of discourse he happened to say to me,
that the ancient Jews themselves had acknowledged a
plurality of persons in the ineffable unity of God.
That God seeing Himself, contemplating Himself,
reflecting Himself, begot His Son from all eternity;
and that the Son is He whom Christians adore in the
person of Jesus Christ crucified.
"Then did my eyes perceive the first rays of new
light. I began to read the New Testament; I read
that unspeakably sublime and blessed word (St. John i.
6-14), 'In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the
Word was made flesh.' I began to feel an abhorrence
of sin, for which the Saviour Himself manifested
in the flesh, had suffered the death of the cross. I
perceived the fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah,
xi., liii., lxi., and in Psalms xxii., cx., &c. I adored—I
believed, and by degrees this faith operated upon
my conscience and my practice. Religion was no
longer merely a sublime speculation, or a great
national interest; I found that I must become the
property of Jesus Christ, that I must live to Him, and
by Him. Twenty years have elapsed since that period.
Shame in the sight of God and before men befits me
in recording so holy an obligation. But He who
called me from the midst of darkness is faithful. He
will not suffer me to quit this life without having truly
glorified Him with my lips, and in my life, by the faith
which alone saves. During the early days of my
convictions I had, though with some hesitation,
opened my mind on the subject, to my friend
Capadose. We soon entered into a full discussion of
it—and our conversations were more and more
directed to the great questions of the truth and
salvation; we read and examined together. A third
enquirer into the Scriptures and the truth in Christ,
was soon after joined with us. God gave me, in 1821,
a wife whose choice from the first communication we
had together on this all-important subject, was in accord
with my own. By a remarkable providence of
God, Hannah Belmonte, my cousin, betrothed to me
in 1820, had been, through a train of family circumstances,
brought up in a school of Christian young
ladies. Having been admitted to share their religious
instructions, she became acquainted with the catechism
of Heidelberg, and had heard the blessed name of Jesus
before I did. From the time I imparted to her what
was passing in my own mind, she became to me a
beloved sister in Christ, as well as a faithful companion
in the trials of life, and in the search after eternal life
through faith in our great God and Saviour. Together
with our friend Capadose, we were baptized
the 20th October, 1822, at Leyden; and the Lord
afterwards added to us three other members of our
family. We kept up a good understanding, and
uninterrupted communion of feeling with my mother-in-law
Belmonte, and her eldest daughter, Esther;
though we were far from anticipating the happy change
and renewal of heart and life, which quickly developed
itself. By the Divine blessing, a conversation that
my mother-in-law and I had together, one evening,
was made the means of arousing her to a serious
concern for the salvation of her soul, and this example
was soon followed by her daughter. Both displayed
great eagerness for Christian instruction, and shortly
after they openly confessed the name of the Lord
Jesus, and were baptized by the venerable and pious
Pierre Chevalier (pastor of the Walloon church in this
town)—who is now with them before the throne
of the Lamb.
"Our mother, then aged sixty-eight years, survived
her baptism two years, a period which she devoted
almost entirely to prayer and studying the Scriptures,
especially the New Testament, her previous reading
having been confined to the most frivolous publications.
Perfect peace was the portion of her latter days, and
her last words were, 'Come, Lord Jesus!' Her
daughter Esther, who afterwards married the worthy
son of the Walloon pastor, our intimate friend and
brother, Monsieur J. Chevalier, after a most edifying
course of devotedness to her Lord and Saviour, died in
her confinement in June, 1840. Her soul also reposes
in peace in the bosom of Abraham, and in the full fruition
of His presence who redeemed her with His blood.
"Another member of our family, who had become a
disciple of Christ, and had been baptized some time
after us (but quite independently of us), had preceded
our dear sister in death; delivered from the depths of
sin by the healing grace of the Lord, he had found
pardon and eternal life through the new and living
way of the blood of Christ. After having studied
theology, he was about to assume the pastoral charge
of one of our churches, when he was called to his rest.
"To God the most holy, be thanksgiving and praise
for his unspeakable mercies in life, in death, and
throughout all eternity. Amen."
After Bilderdyk's death Da Costa was generally
recognized as his successor among the Dutch poets.
He wrote fifty-three longer and shorter poems.
Amongst his other works are—"Israel en de Volken"
(2nd ed. Haarlem, 1848-49), a survey of the history
of the Jews to the nineteenth century, the third
volume dealing with the history of the Spanish
and Portuguese Jews. The work was translated into
English under the title, "Israel and the Gentiles," by
Mary Kennedy (London, 1850), and into German by
a friend of God's Word (Miss Thumb), published by
K. Mann, Frankfurt, a/m. 1855. He also wrote two
papers, "The Jews in Spain and Portugal, and the
Jews from Spain and Portugal," in 1836; "The
Von Schönberg (Belmonte) family," in the "Jahrbuch
für Holland," 1851; and "The noble families among
the Jews" (Navorscher, 1857).
Dahan, Job, a Jew in Mogador, baptized by the
L.J.S. missionary Ginsburg, about 1872-3, had to
experience, like St. Paul, stripes and imprisonment,
yet remained steadfast in the faith and laboured for
the Master.
Daniel, David, laboured as a pioneer missionary at
Safed, in 1849, amidst great difficulties and personal
dangers. As soon as one enquirer came forth to
make a public confession of his faith in Christ, Daniel
was exposed to ill-treatment from his unbelieving
brethren, and at last compelled to return to Jerusalem.
Later he laboured among the Jews in Frankfort,
and the rest of his life he spent as a lay-worker at
Wadhurst, in Sussex. He was a true servant of Christ.
Darmon, Solomon, born in Algiers in 1850,
baptized by Ginsburg in 1872, laboured with tokens
of Divine approval in Mogador. A Jewish widow, who
had declared that if angels from heaven were to tell her
that Jesus is the Messiah she would not believe, was
convinced at length through the testimony of Darmon.
His own wife later followed his example.
Darmstadt (Rabbi Schittenhoven), was baptized
in Switzerland, in 1749, by Pastor Augusti.
Darmstadter, son of a learned Jew, was baptized
in Darmstadt, in 1680. Concerning him, there appeared
in Breslau, in 1713, a little book by Deakonus
Caspar, entitled "Geschtillte Sehnsucht eines wahren
Israeliten nach dem himmlischen Jerusalem" ("The
longing of a true Israelite after the heavenly Jerusalem
satisfied"). To show the Jews that Christianity
was a matter of deep concern with him he abstained
from food for several days, and by his whole life and
conversation he exercised a salutary influence upon
them.
David, Andreas Friedrich, born at Altofen, in 1750,
was baptized in Vienna about 1785. Superintendent
Folk reports of him in that year that he was a sincere
man and the first Jewish convert received into the
Evangelical Church in Austria ("Kalkar Israel," 203).
David, Fanta, a Falasha convert in Abyssinia.
Concerning him, Argawi wrote on March 14, 1889,
that he had accompanied him on a long journey on
foot to Monkullo, in order to be able to send a letter
from there to their friend, Mr. Flad, in Germany.
David, Ferdinand, born in Hamburg, in 1810, was
baptized in Berlin by Pastor Schultze, in 1828. As
a musician and composer he associated with Mendelssohn.
He died at Klosters, in Granbündten. His
sister Louise, born in 1811, also embraced Christianity
and died in London as Madam Dulken, in 1850.
David, Georg Nathan, son of a Jewish merchant,
was born at Copenhagen in 1793, and after receiving a
good education, embraced Christianity. He became
Professor at the University of Copenhagen, founded
the newspaper "Fäderlandet," which advocated the
political rights of the people. He was also director
of a bank. He died in 1874.
David, Hakim, physician and learned Talmudist,
was baptized by the L.J.S. missionaries at Bagdad,
in 1850.
David, J., laboured as an evangelist among the
Jews in Hamburg and Holstein about 1875.
Davidson, Benjamin, a native of Posen, embraced
Christianity in London, probably under the ministry
of Ridley Herschell, who had known him at home.
In 1843 they both belonged to a Hebrew Christian
Prayer Union, which used to meet once a month for
prayer. In 1847 Davidson was appointed Principal
of the Missionary Training College of the British
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the
Jews. He also used to instruct enquirers. He was
the author of an "Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee
Lexicon," "Syriac Reading Lessons with Analysis,"
and "Chaldee Reading Lessons," an English edition
of Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. He assisted in the
editing of the "Englishman's Hebrew Concordance."
His chief literary work, however, was posthumous—a
Concordance of the Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures.
Davidson was also actively engaged from time
to time in missionary work. In 1866 he laboured in
Vienna and had much intercourse with students. In
Bordeaux he stirred up an interest in the Jews among
evangelical Christians, so that they founded the
"Societé d'amis d'Israel." In 1871 he became Superintendent
of the Home for Aged Converts and for
Orphans, where he died the same year.
Davis, Joseph, a native of Poland, was baptized in
1819, in Edinburgh, and was probably the first convert
of the Edinburgh Jewish Missionary Society, which
was founded the year before. He afterwards laboured
as a missionary among his brethren.
Davis, Rev. Nathan, was one of the first missionaries
of the Free Church of Scotland. He was sent
to Tunis in 1830, where he raised a spirit of enquiry
amongst the Jews, and baptized some of them. In
1848 he was transferred to Gibraltar.
Dennis, Rev. Dr. M. J., worked first as a missionary
in Palestine. Later on he left the Holy Land
and joined Mr. Freshman's mission in New York, but
his station was at Boston.
Desair, Ludwig (Leopold Dessauer), born in Posen
in 1809, embraced Christianity. He is known as one
of the greatest Shakespearian actors of the nineteenth
century.
Detmond, Johann Hermann, son of the Court
physician at Hanover, born in 1787. The whole
family embraced Christianity, and Detmond, junior,
became a member of the German Parliament in 1848.
("Jewish Intelligence," 1856, p. 329).
Deutsch, Christian Solomon, born at Temesvar, in
Hungary, 1734. Up to his twentieth year he studied
scarcely anything but the Talmud at home and in
Prague. The Bible was a sealed book to him. He
had married, as the custom was then, very young, and
had his board and lodging with his father-in-law, so
that he could apply all his energies to Talmudic
study, till he should be a light in Israel. In 1760 his
wife died, and after four months he married the
second daughter, and was kept again. In the same
year he received from the Grand Rabbi of Moravia,
the title of Moreinu or D.D. However, he was not
happy; he had read a passage in the Talmud, tract
Megillah 24 b, which troubled him. It is thus:
"R. Jose said: I was vexed all my life in not being
able to understand the prophecy in Deut. xxviii. 29.
'Thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth
in darkness,' until one dark night I met a blind man
carrying a burning torch, and asked him, 'What good
is that torch to you?' He replied, 'Although I cannot
myself see, yet others can see and take care of me
that I fall not into a pit or among thorns and briars."
This awakened serious thoughts in Solomon's mind.
He felt that he was not even like the blind man, for
he had neglected the Word of God in the Old
Testament, and as for the New, he, living in a Roman
Catholic country, had never heard of it. So he began
to practise penitence by wearing a garment of horsehair
over his body, fasting and castigations. At
night he often used to weep over his sins, and his wife
could not console him. Then she reproached him
that he had some secret which he kept from her. To
this he replied, "I will confess the truth to you; we
must choose another way and get out of the darkness in
which we are living, if we wish to escape from hell."
He had been already meditating about embracing
Christianity, and this he betrayed somewhat by his
behaviour, and the result was that he was compelled
by the rabbi to divorce his wife. When three Roman
priests heard of this affair, they visited him, and one
of them assured him that he had prayed to the Virgin
for his conversion, therefore he ought at once to join
the Church. But Solomon refused, and left his home
in 1762, praying on the way for guidance in the name
of Jesus. This prayer he records in full in his autobiography.
He came to Prague and then to Saxony,
studying the Scriptures on the way. Here in "a
prominent town" (probably Dresden) he visited the
rabbi, and they enjoyed themselves in a discussion
over some knotty Talmudic subtleties. On October
24, he read for the first time Isa. liii. and asked the
rabbi concerning whom the prophet spoke. Then
the rabbi appointed an hour and a private place
where he would speak to him about this chapter.
When they met together he was astonished to hear
the rabbi revealing as a secret his belief that the
chapter was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Thence
Solomon went to Leipzig, Berlin, Amsterdam, and at
last to London, where he was very ill. After his
recovery in 1763, he returned to Holland. On his
way by ship to Arnheim, he met a Swiss Christian,
who took a great fancy to him, and in a conversation
expressed a wish that the Lord might enlighten his
eyes as he did Rabbi Jechiel Hirschlein who had been
baptized at Zurich. In short, after much instruction,
Solomon was baptized at Amsterdam, on June 25,
1767, after handing in a written confession of his faith
under the title, "Jehovah Glorified through the acknowledgment
of the true Messiah Jesus Christ, proved
from the writings of the Prophets, Evangelists, and
Apostles," consisting of 175 pages, and printed at Amsterdam.
He then studied theology and became Pastor
at Mydret in 1777, where he laboured faithfully till his
death in 1797. His chief literary work was, "Israel's
Verlosinge en eeuwige Behoudenis" (Israel's redemption
and eternal salvation), 3 vols., Amsterdam, 1769-93.
Deutsch, Ignaz Friedrich Gottlieb, a native of
Perskretscham, and evidently a relative of the next,
was baptized in Berlin in 1825.
Deutsch, Siegmund Herman, was a remarkable
personality. He was born in Perskretscham, Silesia,
in 1791. As usual he had an early Talmudical education.
Then he went to the Gymnasium, and then to
the University of Breslau, where he studied mathematics
and astronomy. In 1815 he served as a soldier in
the Prussian army, took part in the war, and was
promoted to be an officer and teacher in the military
school in 1817. Then he had a duel with some one
and was imprisoned in a fort. There he was converted
to Christianity, and afterwards served as an artillery
officer in the Greek liberation war.
Returning to Berlin in 1824, where he attended the
ministry of the celebrated Gossner, he associated with
the convert Lachs, who was a teacher in a school
for deaf and dumb, sat under the theological teachings
of Neander, and was thus spiritually prepared for being
called to labour for the Master among his own people.
This call came from Dr. McCaul, and after a little
more preparation in the Hebrew College in Palestine
Place, he was sent by the L.J.S. as a missionary to
Warsaw in 1828, where he laboured (with a short
interval at Breslau) till 1833. He then was stationed
in Bavaria. He died in 1864, leaving a MS. (not yet
printed) on the future of Israel.
Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield, born in
London, December 21, 1804, died there April 19, 1881.
Of this preeminently distinguished man in the
nineteenth century there are many biographies and
lasting monuments. We need only record very briefly
here that he was one of England's greatest sons and
statesmen, and the greatest ornament of the Jewish
people in modern times. An ardent lover of his
nation, a genuine English patriot, a friend of his
great Queen, a thorough Protestant Churchman, yet
with liberal tendencies, and a true believer in Christianity,
which he regarded as completed Judaism. His
works are these: "Vivian Grey," 1817; "The Infernal
Marriage;" "Ixion in Heaven," and "Popanilla," 1828;
"Contarini Fleming," and "The Wondrous Tale of
Alroy," 1832; "The Young Duke," about that time;
"What is he?" 1833; "Revolutionary Epic," 1834;
"Coningsby," 1844; "Tancred," 1847; "Sybil," 1845;
"The rise of Iskander," "Vindication of the British
Constitution," "Venetia," "Henrietta Temple," "The
Tragedy of Count Alarcos," and "Lothair," were all
productions of his great intellect at different seasons.
Benjamin's mother, his sister Sarah, born 1802, his
brother Ralph, 1809, and his brother James, 1813,
were all Hebrew Christians.
Disraeli, Isaac, left the synagogue in 1817. Though
we have no definite information about his baptism, we
may reasonably assume that he was a member of the
Church of England. This appears from his having his
children baptized, from his pamphlet, "The Spirit of
Judaism," in which he vindicated himself for the step
he had taken, from his articles on "The Talmud,"
"Psalm Singing," the Pearl Bibles and six thousand
errata in his "Curiosities of literature," &c., all shewing
that he was an earnest student of religious subjects
and of the Scriptures, and that he endeavoured to
spread the light of truth.
Ducat, H., a native of Warsaw, embraced Christianity,
together with his wife, about the middle of the
nineteenth century. He was a saintly Christian man,
laboured as missionary for some time under the
British Society, was one of the founders of the
Hebrew Christian Prayer Union and of a Loan Fund
for needy converts. His sons-in-law are the Rev. Dr.
Flecker and the Rev. John Schor.
Dushaw, Amos I., spent the greater part of his
youth in Jerusalem, Palestine, where he attended the
school of the London Jews' Society. Here the
seeds of Christian truth were sown in his young
heart. He afterwards came to London, where he was
brought into close connexion with the members of
the above-mentioned society, and the germs of truth
gradually grew, budded, and blossomed into faith in
our Lord as his Messiah.
Dushaw went to America in 1895. The following
year he was baptized, upon confession of his faith
in Christ, in the Fourth Congregational Church, at
Hartford, Conn.
He followed Horace Greeley's advice, "Young man,
go West." He was determined to obtain a classical
education. After a hard struggle, that perseverance
and determination to conquer all obstacles always a
component of the Jewish character, enabled him,
in 1901, to graduate from Redfield College, South
Dakota. He afterwards returned to New York, and
entered the Union Theological Seminary, from which
he graduated in 1904. June 12, 1905, he received a
preacher's license from the New York Presbytery.
While pursuing his regular academic course he
made a speciality of sociology, literature and history.
Especially was he interested in Hebrew history and
the present social, religious and political status of
Israel. He supplemented this study by personal
observation as a worker on the East Side of New
York. This training enabled him to write for "The
People, the Land and the Book" some very choice
articles. Several secular papers quoted from one of
his articles, "Moses and Jesus."
The production of this article was due to the
following incident. Dushaw called upon one of
the leading reformed rabbis to discuss the general
condition of the Jews in the Ghetto. This rabbi
was so much impressed with his insight into the
situation, and also with his information on many facts
pertaining to Israel's development, that he advised
him to return to the Hebrew ranks. Israel, he said,
would appreciate his ability, whereas the Church
would simply cast him out, because he was a member
of Israel. He thought Dushaw was foolish to waste
his time in the Church. On separating, the rabbi gave
him a lecture, "Moses and Jesus," delivered in his
temple. Dushaw then decided to write one on the
same subject, from his own point of view. We quote
from it.
"If Solon belongs to Athens, Lycurgus to Sparta,
Moses belongs to humanity. He is the greatest
among the great, the deliverer of his people, the
world's legislator, and the apostle and prophet of
Monotheism...."
"I wonder how much Jesus, the brother and pupil
of Moses, did to make Moses as popular as he is to-day?
It was Jesus who inspired the men to translate
the writings of Moses into so many tongues. Yet
this does not in any way belittle Moses. What if the
pupil is greater than the master! Surely Moses would
not envy Jesus if he accomplished more. Moses, the
most unselfish man that ever lived, would be only too
glad to see a brother the Saviour of the world. Did
he not wish that all Israel were prophets? What right
has the Jew to reject Jesus? Has he not made Israel
the most known people? What if his followers did
persecute Israel? Persecution is contrary to the spirit
of Jesus.
"Jesus has proved Himself to be the greater Moses.
He has been a light to the nations, guiding them to
Moses, to the prophets, and unto God. Wherever
Jesus is proclaimed, there the Monotheism of Moses
is established, and the ethic, 'Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself,' is given a wider interpretation."
The article "The Ghetto and Its Relation to Jewish
Missions." The substance of this work was delivered
at the "First International Hebrew Christian Conference,"
held in Mountain Lake Park, Md., July
28-30, 1903.
The article, "Hebrew Christian Literature," was
written at the request of the editor.
As he came in contact with both cultured and
uncultured Christians, and discovered how little they
appreciated the work of Israel, he was led to write the
two articles, "Salvation is of the Jews—Jesus," and
"Let There Be Peace." We quote from the first
one:
"I am anxiously awaiting the hour when there will
be a new nation—'a nation born in a day'—when the
martyr nation, the suffering nation of Isaiah, will
awake from its cruel slumber and perceive that for
the last nineteen hundred years a fountain of life has
been flowing for it from the heart of one of its own
sons—the best son of Israel—Jesus Christ. What a
spiritual revolution will then take place in the world!
Heaven and earth shall resound with joy! For Israel,
the Prince of God, shall clothe himself in robes of
righteousness and go forth in the might of Jehovah to
conquer the earth for the Lord—to set up everywhere
the banner of social, political and spiritual freedom.
Then, and not till then—when every one shall serve
his brother faithfully; when all barriers now separating
Jew and Gentile shall be no more; when every man
shall dwell unmolested under his fig-tree; when God
shall be worshipped in the Spirit of Jesus; when the
old order of things shall pass away and the whole
earth shall be known as the temple of God,—then
shall Israel's mission end. For then there will be no
more Jew, but all shall be called children of God and
brothers of Jesus."
Dworkowitz, Rev. Paul, a native of Russia, baptized
by the L.J.S. missionary Dr. Klee, in Berlin, about
1864 or 1865. He then studied at Basle, and laboured
as a missionary of the British Society, and Pastor
in Warsaw, the Baltic Provinces, Breslau, Munich
and Hamburg, with much blessing upon his labours.
He is a gifted man, and above all, an "Israelite indeed."
Ebers, George Moritz, born in Berlin, 1837. He
became first Professor on Egyptology in Jena in 1868,
and then in Leipzig in 1870. He travelled for
eighteen months in Spain, North Africa, Egypt,
Nubia, Arabia Petrea. The result of his Archæological
and scientific investigations he published in
several works—1. "Eine ägyptische Königstochter"
(Stuttgart, 1864), which describes Egyptian life at the
time of the Persian conquest. This was translated
into English by Gore (London, 1870). 2. "Disquisitiones
de Dynastia xxvi. regum Æg." (Berlin, 1855).
3. "Aegypten und die Bucher Mosis, ein Sachlicher
Commentar zu Genesis und Exodus" (Leipzig, 1868).
4. "Durch Gosen zum Sinai aus dem Wanderbuche
und der Bibliothek" (Leipzig, 1872). 5. "Ueber das
alt aegyptische Schrift System" (1875). 6. "Papyrus
Ebers," his chief work, which is in the University of
Leipzig. 7. "Ein hieratisches Handbuch Altaegyptischer
Arznei Kunde," 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1875). 8.
"Giarda," "Homo Sum," "Josua," "Aegypten in
Wort und Bild" (Stuttgart, 1878).
Eberty, Georg Friedrich Felix, born in Berlin in
1812, studied law, and in 1851 become Professor at
the University of Breslau. He wrote "Die Gestirne und
die Weltgeschichte, Gedanken und Raum, Zeit und
Ewigkeit" (Breslau, 1846-47). This work was translated
into English. "Walter Scott," 1860, also
translated into English. "A Biography of Byron"
(Leipzig 1862). "Geschichte des Preussischen
Staates," 7 vols. (Breslau, 1866-73).
Edelstein, Rev. S., after finishing his theological
course at Leipzig, went to Canada, and was ordained
by Bishop Hellmuth in 1880 and appointed to a
church at Eagle, Ontario.
Edersheim, Rev. Dr. Alfred, born at Vienna, March
7, 1825, died at Mentone, March 16, 1889. We give
the following extract about him from the Memoir of
Dr. Saphir, by Rev. G. Carlyle: "In 1847 young
Edersheim became a student at the University of
Buda-Pest. He had been brought up luxuriously in
Vienna, and was one of the leaders of fashion. He
was highly educated, spoke Latin fluently, knew
Greek, German, French, Hebrew, Hungarian and
Italian. When Cremieux, the head of the French bar,
paid a visit to Vienna, the synagogue presented him
with an address, and deputed young Edersheim to
deliver it. Cremieux was so pleased with his eloquence
that he offered his father to take his son to
Paris, and provide for him for life, but his parents
would not give him up.... Before the winter was
over, Edersheim was under the teaching of the Holy
Spirit, and had glorious views of the Deity of Christ.
Trusting in His One Sacrifice, and filled with the
peace of God, he gave himself up to be His servant in
any way it might please God to direct him. He
opened a class to teach the students English on the
condition that the Bible should be their only lesson
book. Baptized, and now full of life and vigour, it
was resolved that he should go to Edinburgh, to the
Rev. Professor Duncan, to complete his theological
studies. Edersheim, after his ordination, was missionary
first in Jassy, Roumania, and then minister for
many years at the Free College Church, Old Aberdeen,
and then at Torquay.... He then joined the Church
of England and became Vicar of Loders in Dorset."
He resigned his living in 1883, and settled at Oxford,
where he held the position of Grinfield Lecturer of the
University. He was also Warburton Lecturer of Lincoln's
Inn, and "Select Preacher" of the University
of Oxford.
Dr. Edersheim was a voluminous author, and his
works are extremely valuable from the fact that he
was able to deal with his subject both from the
standpoint of a learned Jew and a learned Christian.
It may be as well to state here his total output,
from which it will be seen how wide and extensive
was his range of study and scholarship. He was
Translator and Editor of the "History of Speculative
Philosophy from Kant to Hegel, from the German
of Dr. Chalybäus, with introduction by Sir Wm.
Hamilton" (Edinburgh); "Kurtz, History of the Old
Covenant (vol. 1) with condensed abstract of Kurtz's
Bible and Astronomy"; "Lange, Bible Commentary
on St. Matthew" (2 vols.); "Kurtz, History of the
Christian Church, with emendations and additions"
(Edinburgh, 1860); Author of "History of the Jewish
Nation from the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Establishment
of Christianity in the Roman Empire" (T.
and T. Clark, 1856. Revised by Rev. H. A. White.
Longmans, 1896); "The Golden Diary of Heart-Converse
with Jesus in the Book of Psalms" (R.T.S.);
"Elisha the Prophet, his History and Times" (R.T.S.);
"The Jubilee Rhythm of St. Bernard," and other
Hymns, chiefly from the Latin (J. Nisbet and Co.,
1866); "The Temple, its Ministry and Services as
they were at the time of Jesus Christ" (R.T.S., 1874);
"Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the days of Christ"
(London, 1876); "Bible History," 7 vols. (R.T.S.);
"The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," 2 vols.
(Longmans, 1884; eighth edition, 1894); "Jesus
the Messiah," an abridged edition of the foregoing;
"Prophecy and History in relation to the Messiah,
being the Warburton Lectures for 1880-84" (8 vols.,
Longmans, 1885); "Commentary on Ecclesiasticus,"
in "The Speaker's Commentary on the Apocrypha"
(J. Murray, 1888); "Tohu-va-Vohu (Without form and
void)," a collection of Fragmentary Thoughts and
Criticisms, edited by his daughter (Longmans, 1890),
and various articles from time to time in the
"Edinburgh Review." He was also editor of
"Israel's Watchman" in 1877.
Eduard, Julius Anton, born in Lissa (Posen), in
1785. When still a young boy he felt drawn towards
Christianity. In order to prevent this tendency developing
further, his mother and stepfather, then living
at Breslau, sent him away to relatives at Lissa. But
in due time he embraced Christianity, and friends
helped him to study theology at Berlin, and he was
ordained in 1816, and laboured for many years as a
faithful and beloved Pastor at Breslau. His name
occurs often in the reports of the L.J.S. as one who
took a great interest in the mission to the Jews, and
as having also accompanied the missionaries on their
journey to Poland.
Egsiabher, Debtera Gebra, a very learned Falasha
convert, labouring among his brethren in Abyssinia
in 1874, when Mr. J. M. Flad met some of the converts
at Kassala.
Ehrlich, Herman, born at Cracow in 1837, of a
family locally designated as Anshey Emeth (men of
truth). He was baptized in London by Dr. Ewald in
1856. After working as a lay-helper for three years,
he was appointed missionary by the London City
Mission, under whom he has laboured faithfully ever
since. He was one of the first organisers of Sunday
services in theatres, and he founded the Hebrew
Conference Hall, Old Montague Street, Whitechapel,
where he is [1909] doing evangelistic work.
Eisenstein, Ferd. Gotthald Maxim, born in Berlin,
1832, died there 1852. Though only twenty years
old at his death, yet he was a Ph.D. teacher in the
Academy and a notable mathematician.
Eliyahu, Rabbi Mullah, of Bushire, is recorded, together
with Eliyahu of Bagdad, as having been baptized
at Bagdad in 1852. The father of the latter had
lost his occupation among the Jewish community on
account of that, and this Eliyahu afterwards accompanied
Stern on his journey to Mosul and Kurdistan.
Elkana, Rabbi Paulus, of Prague. Superintendent
Olarius, who wrote a preface to a Hebrew translation
of the Augsburg confession prepared by Philipp Gallus
in 1888, reports of the above rabbi who had been his
teacher, that he was converted to the Christian faith
through reading a Hebrew translation of the Gospel
by St. Matthew and of the Epistle to the Romans.
Elvin, Johannes, carried on missionary work among
the Jews in Hamburg in 1850, under great political
difficulties.
Emin, Pasha (Edward Carl Oscar Theodor
Schnitzer), born at Oppeln, Prussian Silesia, in 1840;
killed at Kinena Station, Congo Free State, October
23, 1892. When he was only six years old his parents
had him baptized in the Protestant Church at Neisse.
Whether this famous explorer remained a Christian or
not is uncertain, but his parents must have either
embraced Christianity before or at the time of his
baptism.
Eppstein, Rev. John Moses (Levi, such was his name
at first), was born at Memel, in Prussia, Feb. 24, 1827,
being the son of Elijah Levi and Rose, his wife (née
Eppstein). Soon after his birth his father died, and
he was brought up by his grandfather, Rabbi
Benjamin Eppstein, who retired to Jerusalem
when his grandson was nine years old, adopting
him as his son, and making him take the name
of Eppstein. Until he was sixteen years old
Moses was taught little else than Hebrew and the
Talmud. About this time several friends of his
became Christians. At first the only effect on him
of their conversion was to make him more bigoted;
indeed, he went about with a dagger for some time in
the hope of killing his cousin Lauria, a rabbi who had
become a Christian. At last, through the latter, he
was led to study the Prophets, and eventually the
New Testament. After this his eyes began to be
opened to the truth as he saw fact and figure, and type
fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, who must have been the
promised Messiah. The Talmud was put aside for the
whole written Word of God; this he studied at the
risk of being killed, the reading of even the Old Testament
causing suspicion. He had therefore to resort
to all sorts of contrivances to enable him to search the
Scriptures. His own words tell out his feelings at
this time:—"My convictions deepened daily, and I
longed to openly confess the Lord Jesus; but I had not
the courage to give up all for Him. All sorts of
thoughts swayed my mind, and often, when my
conscience troubled me, something would whisper to
my troubled heart, 'When you grow up and get your
property you will be free to embrace Christianity, now
your wisdom is to hide your convictions.' But I was
not happy, and continued praying, and the Lord heard
my prayer, for I was soon compelled to take refuge
with the Society's missionaries. In the house where
I lived there was a small synagogue. I was the only
Levite in the congregation, so that on days when the
Law was read I had to read after the priest; as I
was going up to the desk my sash caught, and the
tracts I had in it fell out. The bystanders stepped
forward to see what they were; on finding their contents,
'Apostate,' they yelled, 'with these about you,
you desecrate our place of worship, and dare even to
go up to read the Law!' The whole congregation
began beating me, and would probably have murdered
me, had it not been for one of them. As soon as I
was free from my persecutors, my only safety was in
flight. I went to my room, and committed myself in
prayer to the Lord, and then went straight to the house
of Mr. Nicolayson." After a course of instruction he
was baptized, July 13, 1844, by Bishop Alexander.
After his baptism he found a situation in Cairo, in
which he stayed for several years, until he felt the
missionary call. His employer did his best to prevent
him leaving, even to offering him a share in his business.
But his mind was made up, and he entered the
Protestant College at Malta, as a theological student,
spending five years there. He then offered himself to
the Society, and in 1854 entered the Hebrew College
in Palestine Place. In 1857 he was appointed a missionary
of the Society at Bagdad. The results of his
work are summed up in his own words, "The mission
was a great success, not from the number of baptisms,
but from the large numbers to whom we preached
Christ." In 1867 he commenced his great work at
Smyrna, where, through his labours during eighteen
years, many Jews were born again, and were baptized.
In 1885 he left Smyrna. One who knew him and his
work there wrote after his death, "Mr. Eppstein will
ever be remembered by thousands of Jews living at
Smyrna, and in the interior of Asia Minor. When
his death became known many Jews said, 'He was
a good man, and loved our people.' He had friends
amongst the rich as well as the poor, whilst learned
and unlearned looked up to him for his great learning
and Talmudical knowledge."
In 1885, on the death of Dr. Stern, he was appointed
head of the Society's mission in London, a post for
which he was singularly fitted. He knew English,
German, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Greek
(both modern and classic), Latin, Syriac, Chaldee,
Felachi (the Nestorian dialect of Chaldee), Persian,
Italian, and Turkish. In 1893 he removed to Bristol,
in charge of the "Wanderers' Home." Here his work
was greatly blessed, as many as eighty-two Jews being
baptized by him up to 1902. During his missionary
career he baptized 262 Jews and Jewesses.
At last, in May, 1903, his call came to higher service.
Shortly before his death, though suffering greatly, he
said he was "the happiest man in the world," and
again, "I thank God that He enabled me to lay hold
of the Pearl, and to lay hold of it with both my hands."
The Society suffered a great loss when Mr. Eppstein
passed away to his eternal rest. As a missionary he
was to the end most able and faithful, and his life and
life work will ever be remembered with heartfelt
gratitude to the Almighty God for all that he was
able to do through a life so fully dedicated to His
service, as was that of the late John Moses Eppstein.
Ewald, Rev. Dr. F. C.[12] In the middle of last century
there was no name more familiar to the friends of
Israel than that of Dr. Ferdinand Christian Ewald;
and no missionary to the Jews was more highly
honoured for his work's sake than this distinguished
son of Abraham.
It is somewhat difficult to write a memoir of one
who was too modest and retiring to say or to write
much about himself: and who left but few materials
from which to frame a biography, for it was his express
wish that no lengthened life should be written.
He felt that his record was in Heaven, and that his
works would follow him. As he has been at rest for over
thirty years, we think that the time has come when
an account of his life should be added to that of other
labourers in the same field, in which he was by no
means the least conspicuous worker.
Ewald was born of Jewish parents, on September
14th, 1801, at the village of Maroldsweisach, near
Bamberg, Bavaria. His parents were poor, and the
education which the village offered was all they could
command. Such, however, was his ability that his
friends raised a fund sufficient to send him and his
brother (mentioned on page 215) to a better school,
where he evinced a great aptitude for languages. Later
on he entered the missionary college at Basle. Whilst
there he was baptized, in 1824, at the age of twenty-three,
by the Rev. Dr. Von Brunn, adding the name
of Christian to his patronymic. He remained at Basle
for a few years longer, during which the Society paid
a part of his training expenses. He subsequently
graduated at the University of Erlangen. In 1829 he
was accepted as a student in the Society's College,
and in 1832 he entered the service of the Society.
He took Lutheran orders in the same year, being
ordained at Lörrach, near Basle, by the Decanus
Hiltzig. These he subsequently laid aside, when he
was ordained by the Bishop of London, in 1836.
In the early part of 1832, he visited his native
country for the purpose of seeing his mother, his sister
and her husband, who resided at Bischberg, near
Bamberg, and were still of the Jewish faith. His
sister told him, before he parted from her, that she
believed that Jesus was the Messiah and Redeemer.
His brother Dr. Paulus Ewald, had already renounced
Judaism, and was Lutheran Pastor at Merkendorf,
Bavaria.
Ewald's missionary career naturally falls into three
periods: the first, 1832-41, spent in the Barbary
States; the second, 1841-1851, in Jerusalem; and the
third and last, 1851-1874, in London. His work was
thus both wide in extent and lengthened in duration.
Ewald commenced his work in Africa on September
17th, 1832, by opening a mission at Algiers. The
Rev. John Nicolayson, of Jerusalem, having visited
that city in the spring of that year, and having met
with a cordial reception, came to the conclusion that the
newly-emancipated Jews (i.e., from the Moorish to
the French dominion in 1830), were ripe for a missionary
effort. Consequently Ewald was sent out in
the autumn. His reception, however, was chilling in
the extreme.
The moment he landed he was told by the Custom
House authorities, when they saw the Bibles which he
had brought with him for distribution, "You have
chosen the worst part of the world for your good intentions;
there is nothing to be done in that way here."
His answer was, "This book, the Bible, has already
done great things, and I trust the Lord will bless it
also in this country." Discouragement crossed Ewald
at every turn, for he wrote: "All those whom I met
with, and to whom I stated the object of my mission,
told me that there was nothing to be done here, because
the people are too bad—that the Jews are the
worst set of people that exist in the world—and that
most of the Europeans who have come over are the
outcasts of human society. I believe this to be true,
but I think, because this is true, I am in my proper
place; the Gospel of Christ is able to convert man,
to convert even publicans to righteousness."
Ewald commenced to work amongst the Jews
speaking to them and selling his Hebrew Bibles.
On one day he sold as many as nineteen copies for
twenty-six francs, a large sum from poor Jews; but
they would not take the New Testament. He also
hired a house, intending to have services there for
Jews, when the French Governor-General sent him a
letter forbidding him to preach. This was a great
blow, virtually suspending missionary operations, and
Ewald left Algiers.
His next attempt to found a mission in the Barbary
States was more fortunate, and he had the honour of
establishing the Society's mission in Tunis, in 1833,
laying the foundation of the extensive and encouraging
work now carried on by the Rev. C. F. W. Flad, the
son of the Society's veteran Abyssinian missionary,
Mr. J. Martin Flad.
At the time of Ewald's appointment to Tunis,
which was before the days of the French occupation,
the Jews were greatly oppressed by the native
population. Indeed his very first experience, gained
before his actual arrival, gave him an insight into the
way in which this persecution was carried on. At
Goletta, the port of Tunis, he met more than
300 Jewish men, women and children, who were
seeing some of their friends off to Jerusalem. He
says:—
"I saw a specimen of the cruel treatment the poor
Jews meet with in this country. Some of those who
accompanied their brethren to the Goletta sat down
upon a bank, from which they could look to the ships
where they embarked for Jerusalem; but soon there
came a Moor with a stick in his hand, and drove them
away. An old Jew, with a white beard, spoke some
words to the man which I could not hear, as I was standing
too far off; on this the Moor got into a passion,
and smote the poor Jew repeatedly in his face. I
cannot express what I felt when seeing this—'O!
that the Salvation of Israel would come out of Zion;
O! that the Lord would bring back the captivity of
His people; then,' and only then, 'will Jacob rejoice,
and Israel be glad!' Now poor Israel is oppressed
everywhere more or less."
Ewald made a very successful beginning amongst
the Jews of Tunis, and found an open door in that
dark and benighted country. Within three months
he had sold 398 Bibles, New Testaments, and portions
in Hebrew, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Spanish and
French, for in so many different languages had the
work to be carried on.
He instituted a service on Sunday, and had much
intercourse with Jews, including several rabbis, one of
whom was excommunicated for visiting him. Ewald
used to visit the Jewish quarter with his pockets full
of tracts.
In July of 1834 Ewald visited Monastir and Susa,
at both of which places he was able to proclaim the
Gospel to numbers of Jews. He was back at Tunis
in September, and at once resumed his intercourse with
Jews. He says:—"I have from morning till night
every possible opportunity for preaching the unsearchable
riches of Christ Jesus our Lord to Jews and
Mahometans, sometimes in my own dwelling-place—at
other times in their habitations, or shops, synagogues,
or in the market-place. The desire to read
and to possess the Word of God is daily increasing
among the remnant of Israel in this country. Even
the very poor save a few shillings in order to buy the
pearl of great price. Others who are even too poor to
follow their example, made an agreement to pay a
few pence every week. Doors have been opened for
the circulation of the Scriptures along the coast and
in some places in the interior."
In 1835 Ewald visited the Jews along the northern
coast of Africa—Solimon, Nabal, Hammamet, Susa,
Monastir, Medea, El-Djem, Sfax, Gabes, Menzel,
Shara, the Island of Gerba, and Tripoli were visited,
and the Gospel preached to many thousands and
thousands of copies of the Bible were placed in their
hands, and tens of thousands of tracts circulated.
Most interesting records of this visit remain, to one of
which we cannot refrain from referring. Ewald was
preaching on the wild shores of Gabes, where the Jews
had never so much as heard of Christ, but where the
general cry was, "Give me a Bible; give me a Bible;
here is the money for it!" so that he had none left
for other places, at which the poor Jews cried out for
the Word of God, like children perishing with hunger.
In 1836 Ewald made a visit to England for ordination,
but was soon back at his work again. We
cannot follow this devoted and faithful missionary in
his untiring efforts for the lost sheep of Israel in
Africa, and must be content with giving his own summary
of his labours. On the last day of the year
1838, he wrote:—
"I have now been since 1832 on the coast of Africa.
It has been my privilege to proclaim the Gospel of
salvation to many thousands of the sons of Abraham
during that period. To thousands I have been permitted
to present the oracles of God, and tens of thousands
of tracts have been put into circulation among
the great mass of the Jewish population of this
country. The effect produced by these various
means of grace may be thus described: The greater
part of the Jews know now that Christianity is not a
system of idolatry, but a revelation of God built upon
the Scriptures; that the precepts of the Gospel are
very good and beneficial to mankind. They acknowledge,
for the most part, that the only difference which
exists between the Christians and the Jews is, that
the former maintain the Messiah is come, and Jesus
Christ is the Messiah, whilst the latter deny both,
which may, however, fairly be decided by the Word
of God. They perceive that true Christians are not
the enemies of the Jews, but, on the contrary, their
well-wishers, who provide them with the Scriptures,
and pray for their real welfare. The greater part
of them are now acquainted with the written Word of
God, and we are able to appeal with more effect to
the testimony of Scripture without being constantly
told, 'These passages do not occur in our Bibles, but
are a fabrication of yours, in order to make us believe
that Jesus is the Messiah.'"
For three years more Ewald carried on the work,
and then, owing to repeated attacks of ophthalmia, he
had to return to England in 1841, after a residence of
some eight years in the Barbary States.
He did not, however, long remain idle, for he was
within a few months appointed to assist in the Society's
Mission in Jerusalem, and he and his wife were members
of the party which accompanied Dr. Alexander,
the first Anglican Bishop, to the Holy City. They
sailed from Portsmouth on December 7th, 1841, and
reached Jerusalem on January 21st—being six weeks
on the journey, which is now accomplished in nine or
ten days.
For ten years Ewald laboured earnestly in the
work of the conversion of the Jewish inhabitants of
Jerusalem, being also chaplain to Bishop Alexander
during that prelate's occupation of the see.
One of the most interesting incidents connected
with Ewald's labours in the Holy City was the instruction
and baptism of certain rabbis. Three, named
respectively, Abraham, Benjamin, and Eliezer, had
placed themselves under Christian instruction. A
deputation from the Jews of Tiberias arrived to enquire
whether the report was true, that fourteen rabbis
of Jerusalem had embraced Christianity. The Jews
of Jerusalem, very much exasperated on that account,
did all in their power to avoid coming in contact with
the missionaries, and removed all the books which
they had previously received through the mission, in
order that they might not be suspected.
Shortly afterwards two of the rabbis, Eliezer and
Benjamin, known henceforth as Christian Lazarus
Lauria and John Benjamin Goldberg, were baptized
with two other enquirers, Isaac Paul Hirsch and
Simon Peter Fränkel. The Rev. John Nicolayson,
the head of the Society's mission, referring to the
event, wrote: "It is not a small thing, that the apparently
impenetrable phalanx of rabbinism at Jerusalem
has thus actually been broken into; and two
Jerusalem rabbis been incorporated into the restored
Hebrew Christian Church on Mount Zion. How sore
the Jews felt on this occasion you can easily conceive.
They were, in fact, after all, taken by surprise, and
felt sadly disappointed in having to yield up at
last any lingering hope they might have had of their
return."
Of the third rabbi, Abraham, Mr. Ewald said:
"There was, indeed, something which marred my joy
on that occasion, which was the absence of rabbi
Abraham. For years had he been the faithful companion
of rabbi Eliezer and rabbi Benjamin; he
had the same convictions, but he could not leave his
wife; the struggles between natural affection and
spiritual blessings were too hard for him, and he
returned." Ewald witnessed other interesting missionary
events at Jerusalem, which had a great bearing
upon the subsequent history of the Society; namely,
the baptism of John Moses Eppstein, and the ordination
of Messrs. Tartakover, A. J. Behrens, Sternchuss,
Murray Vicars, and Henry Aaron Stern.
During the early part of his sojourn there, Ewald
had the great misfortune to lose his wife, who died on
January 16th, 1844. He brought his motherless
children to London, but returned to Jerusalem in 1846,
just after his second marriage. In the same year he
published a "Journal of Missionary Labours in the
City of Jerusalem, during the years 1842-4," which are
exceedingly interesting reading, even after this lapse
of time.
It is striking to note that at that time the Jewish
population of Jerusalem was only 6,000, out of a total
of 18,000; whereas the Jewish population now [1909]
numbers 60,000, out of a total of 80,000.
Ewald was compelled to leave the East, owing to
ill-health, in 1851, when he became the Society's senior
missionary in London. He at once made his way
into the hearts and homes of many Jews, and founded,
in November, 1853, an institution for poor enquiring
Jews, called "The Wanderers' Home." Such was its
success that within five years 303 Jews and Jewesses
had availed themselves of its benefits, no less than
150 being baptized; 76 entered the Operative Jewish
Converts' Institution, and six went to the Society's College.
In 1858, owing to lack of financial support, the
Home was closed. It was, however, re-opened in 1860,
and has, under Dr. Ewald's and successive management,
been the means of influencing large numbers of
Jews in a Christian direction.
Ewald's reports of his work are full of encouraging
missionary facts. He was in labours "most abundant,"
both for the Society and the "Wanderers'
Home." For nineteen years he was at the head of
affairs, and at least forty Jewish families in London
were brought through his means to faith in Christ.
He was one of the ablest missionaries who ever served
the Society.
In 1858 Ewald thus wrote of the work: "Certainly,
mighty changes have taken place amongst those Jews
to whom the missionary has not been debarred an
access. If you go into their houses, you find on their
table the Bible, the Old and New Testament, just as
you see it on the table of Christians, and I have seen
the authorized version of the Bible not only in private
houses, but in the synagogue. When you converse
with intelligent Jews, you soon observe that they have
read the New Testament, and other Christian books
and that they know what the fundamental doctrines
of Christianity are, namely: the fall of man; the redemption
of mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ;
the atonement; the Deity of Christ; the doctrine
of the Trinity, &c.; and they know also that every
true Christian believes these doctrines. Then, much
of the animosity towards converts has been gradually
removed, by the number of Jews who have embraced
Christianity. You cannot meet with many Jewish
families who do not count among their relatives some
converts. I have myself heard Jews defending their
friends, not for having embraced Christianity, but
from the alleged imputation of having embraced it
through impure motives. The more Christianity gains
ground in the Jewish community, the more will
friendly feelings arise towards those of their number
who conscientiously look upon the Lord Jesus as the
Christ. Amongst fifty thousand Jews in England we
reckon three thousand converts. In London alone
there are eleven ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ
who are converted Jews, preaching the Word of Life
to perishing sinners, whose ministry the Lord owns
by granting them many souls for their hire. These
thousands of converts are as a salt in the earth, and
through their instrumentality a work is carried on
silently and quietly in this country. They have all
acquaintances and friends, to whom they speak occasionally
of the Lord Jesus; and thus true religion
is spread among the Jews."
When, in 1870, Dr. Ewald, owing to increasing
years, retired from the mission, he could thankfully
look back upon a successful career, whether passed
in North Africa, Palestine, or London. During his
residence in the metropolis hundreds of Jews were
baptized, out of some thousands instructed by him.
Dr. Ewald died at Gipsy Hill, London, on August
9th, 1874, at the age of 73 years.
Ewald published in 1856 a German translation of
"Abodah Zarah" (Idolatrous Worship), the name of
one of the treatises of the Mishnah, of the Tosefta,
and of the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmud, for
which his University conferred upon him the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. A distinction which
he valued still more highly was the degree of Bachelor
of Divinity, which honour was conferred upon him by
the Patron of the Society, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
in consideration of, as the diploma stated, his
proficiency in the study of divinity, of Hebrew and
Oriental languages and literature; and also of his
missionary labours and eminent services in the promotion
of Christianity amongst the Jews.
The then Bishop of Carlisle (Dr. Montagu Villiers)
described Dr. Ewald as a "missionary genius," a description
fully deserved for his ability and devotion to
the work to which he gave his life.
Ewald, Dr. Paulus, a brother of the preceding, also
embraced Christianity. He was lecturer at the
University of Erlangen, and later became Pastor of
Pappenreuth, Bavaria. He published a translation of
the Talmud tract, "Pirke Aboth" (The Ethics of the
Fathers), in 1825.
Ezekiel, Hakim David, a physician and famous
Talmudist at Bagdad, and son of a rich Jew, was baptized
there in 1850, and subsequently laboured as a
colporteur in the mission.
Falk, Max, Hungarian statesman and journalist,
born at Budapest in 1828, became a Christian as a
student at the University. He displayed great talent
as a writer and politician. In 1866 he was appointed
as instructor of Hungarian to the Empress Elizabeth.
The next year he became editor-in-chief to the "Pester
Lloyd," raising that paper to a high level of excellence.
In 1869 he was elected a member of the Hungarian
House of Representatives. The Emperor of Austria
has decorated him with the Komthur Cross of the
Order of St. Stephen.
Fanta, Kendy, together with Beru and I. Jasu, were
indefatigable in proclaiming the Gospel of salvation
to their brethren during the captivity of the missionaries
in Abyssinia.
Faro, Aharon Gabai Rodriguez, a rich Portuguese
Jew living in Holland in the seventeenth century, was
converted through reading Ragstatt de Weile's tract,
"de Heerlykheyd Jesu Christi," and having heard of
an attempt that was made by a Jewish teacher to
murder the author, he decided to be baptized by
him. Ragstatt himself mentioned the case in the
sermon which he preached on the occasion on Ps. ii. 6.
Fauber, of Gran, a highly respected Jew in Pesth,
was baptized in 1847.
Fay, I. L., was won for Christ in 1820 by the L.J.S.
missionary L. D. Mark, who laboured at Offenbach.
Fay studied theology and became Pastor in the
Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.
Fels, Christian Leberecht, born in 1640, became
eventually Rabbi in Prague. After embracing Christianity
at Cöthen, he returned to Prague and claimed
his patrimony, but the Government authorities refused
to sanction it unless he became a Roman Catholic.
So he had to seek his livelihood by teaching Hebrew
and rabbinics in various schools and Universities. To
convince his brethren of the truth of Christianity, he
wrote in German a treatise under the title "Hodegus
Judæorum" (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1703), in which
he, besides the Scriptures, adduces proofs from the
Targums and the Talmud in favour of Christianity.
He published a Latin Hebrew Grammar under the
title "Brevis et perspicua via ad linguam sanctam"
(Sunderhausen, 1696). Also "Brevis et perspicua via
ad accentionem," 1700. No less than 52 Jews were
influenced by him to accept the Gospel. He held a
Professorship at Wittenberg, but on account of war he
had to leave, and went to Verden and Lubeck,
where he gave lessons. He died in the faith at
Hamburg in 1719.
Ferdinand, Philip: "Hebrew teacher; born in
Poland about 1555; died at Leyden, Holland, 1598.
After an adventurous career on the Continent, during
which he became first a Roman Catholic and afterward
a Protestant, he went to Oxford University,
and later removed to the University of Cambridge,
where he was matriculated Dec. 16th 1596. He
claimed a pension from the 'Domus Conversorum,'
which was paid Feb. 3rd, 1598, and receipted for by
him in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. The same year
he was attracted to Leyden by Joseph Scaliger, who
obtained a professorship for him. Scaliger himself
acknowledges having learned much from Ferdinand,
in the short time he was at Leyden. Ferdinand's only
publication was a translation of the six hundred and
thirteen commandments as collected by Abraham
ben 'Kattani' in the Bomberg Bible (Cambridge
1597.)
"The following is a list of his writings: 'Dictionary
of National Biography'; Wood, 'Athenæ
Oxnienses,' ed. Bliss, i. 677; Cooper, 'Athenæ
Cantabrigienses,' ii. 239; Scaliger, 'Epistolæ,' pp.
208, 594, Leyden, 1627; 'Transactions of the Jewish
Historical Society,' Eng. i. 27."—Jewish Encyclopædia.
Finkelstein, Rev. A. M., had a school for Jewish
children in Philadelphia in 1885.
Finkelstein, Rev. Samuel, a convert from Russia,
emigrated to Australia and became pastor of a
German church at Melbourne, where he also founded
a mission to the Jews in 1868.
Flegel, Petrus, a convert, was Professor of Hebrew
at the University of Strassburg in 1564. More is not
known of him.
Fleischalker, Rev. J. C, was educated at St.
Chrischona College, near Basle. He laboured for a
time as L.J.S. missionary in Jerusalem, where he was
ordained by Bishop Gobat. In 1868 he became pastor
of St. George's Episcopal Chapel, New York. He
was a true servant of God.
Fortunatus, Wilhelm, a physician, became a convert
to Christianity through the simple reading of the
New Testament, and was baptized in Baden in 1639,
(Wolff, Bibliotheca Hebraica 1, p. 564).
Fould, Achille, French Statesman and Minister of
Finance under two Napoleons, born in Paris in 1800
died in 1867. In the Jewish Encyclopædia, it is stated
that he married into a Protestant family, and his
children were educated in that faith, but he never
formally abjured Judaism, though he was buried with
the rites of the Protestant Church. But de le Roi
states that in his ripe age, with full convictions, he
joined the Reformed Church, of which he had always
been a true member. The two statements are easily
reconciled. He was a regular attendant at that
Church for many years, but was only baptized in
his old age. (See "Jewish Intelligence," 1868, p. 13.)
Franco, Rabbi Solomon, baptized in London in
1670. Wolff in Bib. Heb. 1678 records the fact that he
took Ps. lxxxv. 11 as his motto, "Truth shall spring
out of the earth," and tried to convince the Jews that
the earthly promises to Israel have a higher spiritual
meaning in their being realized in Christ Jesus.
Franco, Abraham and Jacob, Portuguese Jews, who
had once the first city houses in London. Their
posterity have all become Christians, according to
Peixotto.
Frank, Rev. Arnold, born in Hungary, baptized in
1877 at Hamburg, studied theology at Belfast, was appointed
missionary at Altona in 1884, where he [1909]
still labours faithfully with tokens of divine blessing.
He is the author of a pamphlet entitled "The Jewish
Problem and its Solution" (Belfast, 1883).
Frankel, Dr. B., has written his own history
entitled, "Das Bekenntniss des Proselyten, das
Unglück der Juden und ihre Emanzipation in
Deutschland" (Elberfeld, 1841).
Frankel, Rev. E. B., was first a missionary of the
British Society, and then entered the service of the
L.J.S., and laboured successfully at Jerusalem until
1869, where he had the privilege of baptizing his own
brother. From Jerusalem he was transferred to
Damascus, where he laboured for some years both as
a missionary and chaplain to the English community,
holding evening classes and meeting the Jews at
the book depôt; the latter was once set on fire. Then
he went to Tunis, and together with his son-in-law,
the Rev. E. H. Archer-Shepherd, laboured faithfully till
he retired to Bournemouth, where he died in the Lord.
Frankel, Dr. Ivan, Medical Councillor in Berlin,
became, as a convert, a great friend of the Jewish
mission, and attended the Missionary Conference
in 1870.
Frankheim, a convert in Breslau, wrote two books:
1, "Doctrine of Cohesion" (Breslau, 1835), 2, "Popular
Astronomy" (ib., 1827 and 1829).
Frauenstadt, Christian Martin Julius, German
student of philosophy, born at Boyanawo, Posen,
1813; died at Berlin, 1879. He was educated at
the house of his uncle at Neisse, and embraced Christianity
in 1833. He wrote, "Studien und Kritiken zur
Theologie und Philosophie," Berlin, 1840; "Ueber das
Wahre Verhältniss der Vernunft zur Offenbahrung,"
Darmstadt, 1898; "Aesthetische Fragen," Dessau,
1853; "Die Natur wissenschaft in Ihren Einfluss auf
Poesie, Religion, Moral, und Philosophie," ib., 1885;
"Der Materialismus, seine Wahrheit und sein Irrthum,"
ib., 1856; "Briefe über die Natürliche Religion," ib.,
1858; "Lichtstrahlen aus Immanuel Kants Werken,"
ib., 1872. He also wrote much about Schopenhauer's
philosophy, whose works he edited in six volumes.
Freshman, Rev. Jacob, was the son of a Hungarian
Rabbi, who settled in Quebec, Canada, in 1855. His
father officiated in the synagogue there for three years,
and after becoming convinced of the truth of Christianity
together with his wife, four sons and three
daughters, were all baptized by the Rev. J. Elliot,
then President of the Montreal Methodist Conference.
Freshman, senior, was soon appointed as a Pastor
among the Germans in the province, and laboured in
this office for nine years. On account of his ability and
learning, the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him.
Several Jews were also brought to a knowledge of the
truth through his ministry. He died through an accident
in 1875. His son Jacob was an equally able and
zealous man, established a mission to the Jews in New
York City under the name, "Hebrew Christian Work."
By his popular lectures to Christians on Jewish
subjects, and by his earnest addresses to Jews, he won
the hearts of both, and glorious results followed his
ministry. Many of the converts became themselves
ministers of the Gospel. Having built a church especially
for this work, he retired from the mission to
carry on private ministerial work.
Frey, Rev. (Joseph Samuel) Christian Friedrich,
born at Stockheim, near Wurzburg, in 1771. His
father was an assistant rabbi, in good circumstances,
and a distinguished opponent of Christianity, owing
to his wife's brother having become a Christian. The
children were early prejudiced against Christianity by
their home teacher, who read to them the story about
Jesus as given in the "Toldoth Yeshu." At the age
of eighteen Frey became a teacher and a precentor in
small congregations. In the course of his wanderings
he met a Christian merchant, who induced him to
enquire into Christianity, and this happened repeatedly
with others. He then learned the trade of
shoemaking, and was finally converted in 1798, at
Prenzlan, when his master, a worldly man, dismissed
him on account of attending prayer meetings
frequently. Encouraged by Christian friends he went
to Berlin, and applied to Pastor Janicke for admission
into his missionary training school in 1800. From
there he went to London. Then, after holding meetings
with Jews in Bury Street, Spitalfields, he wrote a
most touching appeal to the Committee of the L.J.S.
(or rather to those earnest Christian men who formed
themselves later into a Committee) in 1801, and thus
he gave the first impulse to the establishment of the
London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst
the Jews in 1809. (See "Our Missions," p. 19).
Of Frey's converts at that time an excellent one
was Erasmus H. Simon, who after his baptism studied
theology at Edinburgh, and went with Thelwall to
Amsterdam, in 1820, to work in that city amongst
the Jews, as he knew the Dutch language. In 1816
Frey went to America, where he assisted in the reconstruction
of the already existing American Society
for Evangelizing the Jews, under the title of "The
Society for Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews in
New York," under which he laboured for some time.
Frey is the author of a long and learned dialogue,
entitled "Joseph and Benjamin;" also of a Hebrew
Dictionary.
Friedberg, Emil Albert von, born in Kanitz, 1837,
studied law in Berlin and Heidelberg, became eventually
Professor of Ecclesiastical Law at Leipzig in 1869,
and was ennobled in Wittenberg. His published
works on Church law are too numerous to mention
here. (See de le Roi, vol. ii. 230, 231).
Friedberg, Heinrich, born in Friedland, 1813, also
a great lawyer, became, after holding important offices of
state, Minister of Justice in Prussia, and received from
the Emperor Frederick the Order of the Black Eagle.
Friedberg, Eduard, also born in Friedland, in 1827,
and evidently a relative or a brother of the preceding
was baptized by Pastor Ideler.
Friedenthal, Karl Rudolf, embraced Christianity
together with his parents and the whole family. In
1838 the family bought an estate near Neu Silesia,
where they did much in the diffusion and strengthening
of evangelical life in the midst of a Roman
Catholic population. Friedenthal was born in Breslau,
1827, studied law, held offices under the Government,
and then retired to the family estate, devoting his
time to good works. He published a pamphlet in
1864, entitled "Solus Republicæ Supremæ," in which
he strongly advocated the organization of charity to
the poor. He was elected a member of the Reichsrath.
During the Franco-German war he volunteered for
the purpose of nursing the wounded. He died in
1890. A near relative, Major A. D. Friedenthal, likewise
became an evangelical Christian.
Friedlander, Benjamin, born 1773, the son of
David Friedländer, the friend of Mendelssohn, embraced
Christianity at the age of 61, together with his wife.
They, in this respect, followed the example of their
children. The whole family were decided Christians,
and one of them, Dr. Julius Friedländer, wrote a
history of the Reformation, and a history of Numismatics,
and other historical works.
Friedlander, Ludwig, born in Königsberg, 1824.
As a Christian he became Professor of classical
Philology and Archæology. He wrote "Wörterverzeichniss
zu Homer," Leipzig, 1860; "Homerische
Kritik von Wolf bis Grote," Berlin, 1853; "Darstellungen
aus der Sittengeschichte Roms," 3 vols., 1862-71,
in which his Christian principles especially appear.
Friedlander, Rev. Zebi Herman, a native of the
Archduchy of Posen, was baptized by Dr. Ewald, in
London, about 1862. By his piety and affectionate
gentle disposition he exercised a salutary influence
over the enquirers, whom, under Dr. Ewald, he also
instructed. In 1870 he was sent by the L.J.S. to
Tunis, after having laboured for a short time at
Manchester. In 1873 he was transferred to Jerusalem,
where he was ordained by Bishop Gobat. The Jerusalem
Jews revered him more than any missionary
before, because he had manifested to them practical
love by being very charitable to the poor refugees from
Russia, in 1885. He was chiefly instrumental in
founding the Jewish agricultural colony at Artouf.
He edited at that time a paper entitled, "Tidings from
Zion." He went later on to New York, where he
edited "The Peculiar People." He died there whilst
engaged in prayer on his knees.
Friedman, Rev. George, a convert of Pastor Faltin,
in Kischineff, became his assistant there about 1885.
He then translated the Lutheran Catechism into
Hebrew. Having afterwards sojourned for a time in
Jerusalem, he went from there to London, and was
after a while appointed by the British Society as missionary
at Wilna, and he has since been doing faithful
work for the Master in various towns in Russia. In
1895, the year of the great and horrible pogroms, he
rendered great and immortal service by consoling and
supporting the poor suffering Jews.
Friedmann, Paul, born at Berlin about the middle
of the nineteenth century. Although the son of a
Jewish convert, he may exceptionally be mentioned
here, as he is a very suitable illustration of the fact that
Christians of Jewish origin cherish in their hearts warm
affection to the people from whom they have sprung.
Moved by a feeling of compassion towards the Jews,
who suffered persecution in Russia between 1880-90,
he visited the land of Midian in 1890, with the
intention of founding a colony there. He, after due
negotiation with the Egyptian Government, actually
founded one in 1901, on the east side of the Gulf of
Akabah, but the new colony did not last more than
two months. Internal dissensions broke out between
the leaders, who were Christians, and the Jews.
Friedmann, who had sunk 170,000 marks in the
project, brought a suit against the Egyptian Government
for £25,000. The Russian Consul in Cairo also
opened an investigation, and violent denunciatory
articles appeared in the Egyptian press, especially in
connexion with the death of one of the settlers, who
had been forced to leave the encampment because of
insubordination. In connexion with the venture
Friedmann privately published "Das Land Madian,"
Berlin, 1891.
Friedmann, Rev. Ben Zion, a native of Russia
educated in the strictest school of the Pharisees,
emigrated to Palestine between 1870-80, took up his
abode in Safed, where he studied the Talmud with
the other disciples of the Hahamim in the Beit-hamedrash.
Whilst there he found Jesus Christ
as his Saviour. In the same place he has been
working as a missionary among his former friends
and companions for many years, and is certainly
regarded by them as one who has not, by embracing
Christianity, forfeited a share in the world to come.
Mr. Friedmann has been to a great extent the means of
establishing a hospital for the Jews in Safed and a
school for their children. He is the author of a tract,
"Or Haolam" ("The Light of the World"), and he
translated "Gideon and the Angel of the Lord" into
Hebrew.
Friedrich, J. C., wrote several works, among which
are these—"Die Söhne Jacobs," "Weissagungs parallelen
mit Virgil," Breslau, 1841, "De Christologia
Samaritanum," Leipzig, 1881.
Frohling, Carline, a Swedish converted Jewess,
laboured as assistant missionary at Stockholm, in
1880-82, by conducting an industrial school in which
poor Jewish children were taught useful work, and by
visits among the resident families, and spreading the
Gospel.
Fromman, Dr. Heinrich Christian Immanuel, physician
and author, was one of the most distinguished
converts in the first half of the eighteenth century in
Germany. He had been studying in Dessau, under
rabbi David Fränkel, when one day he visited a
tailor who, on seeing him, began to weep. Asking for
the cause, the tailor said that he was grieved by the
thought that such a nice young man should be lost.
Fromman thereupon rebuked him sharply—but the
tailor did not mind it—and offered him a New Testament,
urging him to read it. He went away, but came
again another time and asked for the same Book,
but when he saw it was written in German, which he
could not read, he threw it on the table and left the
house. He then went to a bookseller, wishing to buy
a Bible, who demanded a thaler for it, which he could
not afford to pay. However, the tears of the tailor
gave him no rest, and at last he bought the German
Old Testament, and spent whole nights in learning to
read. Having acquired this knowledge, he was glad
to receive the New Testament and to study it diligently.
He then went to Gotha and confessed his
faith in Christ, and was baptized about 1722 or 1723.
During his study of medicine, he translated the
Gospel of St. Luke into Judæo-German, in 1730. Later
he translated other parts of the New Testament.
Having written the tract, "Das Licht am Abend"
("Light at Eventide"), which is still circulated and appreciated
among the Jews, he managed to acquire the
art of setting up type and of printing when he was an
inmate of the Callenberg Institute, and produced the
work with his own hands as well as mind. He also
wrote and translated other Christian books, and composed
the fundamental part of the rabbinic commentary
on St. Luke, which Dr. Biesenthal perfected and brought
to light.
Fuerst, Dr. A., a native of Pommern, Germany, when
only fourteen years old, heard the L.J.S. missionary
Moritz discussing Christianity with the Jews in his
native town, and received from him a Bible. Another
time he received a tract from the L.J.S. missionary
Hartmann, which made a strong impression
upon him. After studying in a seminary for teachers,
in Schneidemuhl (Posen), he went to England, and was
instructed and baptized by the Rev. Ridley Herschell
in 1856. Subsequently he was appointed by the
British Society as a missionary in England. From
1867 to 1871 Dr. Fürst laboured among the Jews in
Stettin. He then entered the service of the Free
Church of Scotland, and was stationed at Prague,
Amsterdam, and Strasburg, and latterly he retired to
Stuttgart, where he still bore testimony to the Jews
of the assured hope of salvation, through his Master
whom he so long and faithfully served. Dr. Fürst was
a fine scholar, and he wrote a book entitled, "Christen
und Juden Licht und Schattenbilder aus Kirche
und Synagoge," Strasburg, 1892.
Gans, Eduard, born in Berlin, 1798, studied, and
through the influence of the philosopher Hegel, embraced
Christianity in 1825, and in 1828 became professor
in the Berlin University. He wrote, among
other works, "Das Erbrecht in Weltgeschichtlicher
Entwickelung" (4 vols.), Stuttgart, 1834, which was
translated into French by Leoménie, Paris, 1845;
"Ein System des römischen Civil Rechts," Berlin, 1827.
He edited Hegel's "Geschichte der Philosophie," and
"Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Kritik." He died
as professor in 1839.
Gelbflaum, Rev. Isidor, was born in the city of
Warsaw, in Russian Poland, in the year 1865, of
orthodox Jewish parents. We cull the following
from his autobiography:—"My father was a corn
merchant in very comfortable circumstances. His
desire from the day of my birth was to bring me up
in strict adherence with Rabbinical traditions, and I,
on my part, followed dutifully and cheerfully the
guidance of my dear father. But very early in my
career, God graciously intervened, and in 1877 I came
into contact with a colporteur of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, who sold me a copy of the
Hebrew New Testament. Though I was only then
in my thirteenth year, I nevertheless read the newly-acquired
treasure with intense longing to find out
whether Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. I used
diligently to read the New Testament whenever the
opportunity presented itself. One day my father
suddenly came into the room where I was reading
the Acts of the Apostles. He immediately demanded
the production of the book, and I instantly gave
it to him. A few weeks later on I had occasion to be
in the market-place, and I purchased another copy of
the same colporteur, which I read with greater caution.
Although I thus read the Book again and again, I
could not understand it, much less could I apply its
contents. I was like the Ethiopian eunuch, and
needed some one to explain to me the meaning of the
revelation of God's purpose to mankind. Soon after
an event occurred which contributed greatly to
determining my spiritual future. My parents,
noticing the abatement of my zeal for rabbinical
Judaism, decided to send me to a Yeshiba, and
they determined on Pressburg, in Hungary. I
had not been in Pressburg more than a week, when I
was brought into contact with a Hebrew Christian
missionary from Vienna, who was visiting the place
at the time for missionary work. He spent over an
hour with me explaining the things of God, and
directing my attention to the Messiahship of the Lord
Jesus. I remained in Pressburg till the spring of 1881,
after which I returned to Warsaw. In 1885 a
Protestant Christian lady in Warsaw became interested
in me, and by her advice, and with a letter of
introduction to the late Rev. Dr. Stern, I came to
England in June of that year, only to find that my
would-be instructor had been called home to his rest.
I waited till the arrival of the Rev. J. M. Eppstein,
who instructed me and subsequently baptized me in
1886. I then entered the Operative Jewish Converts'
Institution, and passed the following two years there
in happy association with other converts to Christ.
In 1888 I offered my services to and was accepted by
the London City Mission, and worked among my
brethren in the East End of London till March, 1893,
when I was appointed by the British Society, and
ultimately sent to Leeds. Since coming to that city,
I have been the humble instrument, in God's hand, of
leading many of my brethren to Christ, two of whom
have become Christian ministers, one in the west of
England and the other in the United States of
America. A third convert given to me is an earnest
Sunday school teacher, and a fourth a local preacher."
Gellert, Alexander, was a missionary of the L.J.S.,
first in England and then, in 1861, in Roumania, where
he had some fruits of his labours, and died in 1870.
Gelling, Michael, was born 1597, and baptized 1616.
He translated in Hamburg R. Isaac Troki's "Chizzuk
Emunah," 1633, into German. Dr. John Müller made
use of this MS. in his "Judaismus detectus," 1694, and
it came into possession of M. Chr. Ziegra. Wolff in his
"Bibliotheca Hebraica," iv. p. 639, gives detailed information
about this MS. and a specimen of Gelling's translation.
Bishop Kidder wrote a refutation of the
"Chizzuk Emunah" in his "Demonstration of the
Messiah," in 1694. Jacob Gusset likewise in his
"Controversarium adversus Judaeos ternio," Dortrecht,
1688. The whole was edited by Arnold Borst, and
published in 1712, at Amsterdam, under the title,
"Jesu Christi Evangeliique Veritas, salutifera, demonstrata
in confutatione libri Chizzuk Emunah."
The Rev. A. Lukyn Williams is now answering
the same in English, and the writer is translating it
into Yiddish.
Germanus, Johannes Isaac Levita, having been convinced
that Isaiah liii. was a Messianic prophecy and
fulfilled in Jesus, was baptized with his wife and his
son Stephen by Joh. Draconites in 1546. Later he
became professor of Hebrew in London and in Cologne.
He wrote a controversial work entitled: "Defensio
veritatis Hebraicae," Cologne, 1558, also a Hebrew
grammar, "Mebo Imre Shofar," which passed through
several editions; a treatise on the book of Ruth; and
translated some of the works of Maimonides and
Juda Ibn Tibon into Latin. His son, Stephen, who was
a physician, translated the prophet Malachi into Latin.
Gerold, Rev. G. L., was a rabbinical student in
Breslau, baptized by Dr. Stern in the year of his
death, graduated at Cambridge, was ordained in 1898,
and is now Rector of Easthope, Much Wenlock, Salop,
in the diocese of Hereford.
Gerson, Christian ben Meir Biberbach, born at Reeklichhausen,
August 1, 1567, received the usual Talmudical
education, and was a teacher in several places.
A neighbour, who was a Christian woman, borrowed
from him ten pence, giving him as security a Lutheran
New Testament. Curious to know the source of the
Christian errors, he and his two brothers-in-law read
it with much amusement. Yet finding there quotations
from the Old Testament, he continued reading
it more earnestly, comparing Scripture with Scripture,
until his conscience was awakened and felt the need of
salvation through Christ. He wrote afterwards—"I
found such light, for which I have to thank the Lord
God all my life." He was baptized by Pastor
Silberschlag at Halberstadt, October 19, 1600.
Gerson's son Stephen was baptized years later, but
his wife got a divorce from him. He then taught
Hebrew at Copenhagen, and eventually, after being
persuaded by friends, he became a preacher of the
Gospel. Testimony is given him that he heartily
loved his people, and defended them against blood
accusations. His works are: "Des Jüdischer
Talmud fürnehmster Inhalt und Widerlegung," Gislav,
1707, Gera, 1613. A German translation of the
eleventh chapter of Tract Sanhedrin. Gerson died
on October 22, 1642, only 47 years old, as a preacher
of the Gospel, in poverty. He was pastor of two
parishes, receiving a stipend of six gulden, and had
to work as a farm labourer for his living. In the
Jewish Encyclopædia it is stated that Gerson was
drowned at Roelheim, September 25, 1627. Here is
a specimen of the contradictory statements of
historians.
Gerson, Rev. Marks, was born in Kovno, Poland,
in 1879. His father died when he was four, and his
mother when he was thirteen. Up to that age he
received the usual Jewish education and his elder
brother kept him at school for another year, but then
he had to make a start to earn his own living. He
worked with relatives for five years, and then came
to London, where the "Hebrew Christian Testimony"
was instrumental in leading him to Christ. In 1898
he was admitted into the Operative Jewish Converts'
Institution, and in December of the same year was
baptized by the Rev. G. H. Händler in Christ Church,
Stepney. In June, 1899, he was confirmed by the
Bishop of Stepney, and in 1901 he was accepted by
the Church Missionary Society for training first at
Clapham Common, then at Blackheath, and subsequently
at the College in Islington. On the 18th of
June, 1905, he was ordained in St. Paul's Cathedral,
and since then he has laboured with good success in
India: being stationed at present in Calcutta.
Gerstman, W. A., was a missionary of the L.J.S. at
Jerusalem in 1837, and then on account of illness was
transferred to Constantinople in 1840.
Ginsburg, Rev. Dr. Christian David, born at
Warsaw, December 25, 1821, embraced Christianity
there in 1846, was missionary of the British Society
in Liverpool till 1863, when he retired in order to
devote himself entirely to literary work. Dr. Ginsburg
contributed a considerable number of valuable
articles on Jewish topics to Kitto's Encyclopædia,
published a book on the Karaites and Essenes, and a
full account in English of the Kabbalah, its doctrines,
development, and literature. But he will be especially
remembered for his massoretic studies, and translation
of Elias Levita's "Massoreth-ha-Massorah" in 1867, and
of Jacob ben Hayim's "Introduction to the Rabbinic
Bible," published in the same year. He was on the
Revision Committee of the Old Testament. He edited
the Massoretic Critical Text of the Hebrew Bible for
the Trinitarian Bible Society, 1894, and also Salkinson's
translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, 1886.
Ginsburg, Rev. J. B. Crighton, was instructed and
baptized by the L.J.S. missionary Hausmeister, at
Strasburg. After doing good work in England, and
not without results, he laboured for many years in
Algeria. Among his converts there were Moses
Ben Oliel and T. E. Zerbib. He then laboured faithfully
in Mogador, amidst many difficulties and trials,
and lastly he had the charge of the mission at Constantinople
from 1886, till the time of his death there,
when he entered into the higher service of Heaven.
Goldberg, Dr. John Benjamin, was one of a number
of rabbis and learned men, who were converted
to Christianity in Jerusalem in the first half of the
nineteenth century. He was baptized in Christ
Church, Jerusalem by Nicolayson, in 1843. He had
consequently to undergo much persecution and loss
of property. In 1847 we find him as a preacher of
the Gospel to his brethren in Cairo, and then, on
account of illness; he was transferred to Salonica. In
1851 he was appointed as missionary at Constantinople,
and from there he went, in 1860, to Smyrna.
Goldberg was a most spiritually-minded and lovable
man. His latter years he spent in England, and contributed
to the "Hebrew Christian Witness," in 1874,
two learned and very valuable and extensive articles on
"The Language of Christ," and on "The Future Division
of the Land of Israel."
Goldberg, Johann Peter, missionary to the Jews. We
give the following extracts from his life and work, edited
by his son-in-law, the Rev. J. A. Hausmeister:—
"It might appear strange that Goldberg should so
soon give up his acquired profession and become a
teacher; but the fact is, that, from his earliest years,
he showed a disposition more for intellectual employment
than for business, for the latter he never displayed
any great talent. At the same time, he did not conceal
his religious, or, rather, anti-Jewish tendencies, as he
was always open and straightforward. These were in
his case tolerated, because he was respected on account
of his learning, and in a few years he was duly
appointed as teacher of the whole Jewish community.
"Concerning his conversion, he, in his reminiscences,
tells the story thus: 'On New Year's
eve, 1803, I and several Jews went, out of curiosity,
to the Hall, where the congregation of the
Moravian brethren worshipped. Here, I heard, for
the first time, of the birth, the destiny, the suffering,
death, and the resurrection of our Saviour, and seized
by a kind of foreboding feeling, my heart was filled
with joy and happiness. Deeply touched, I left that
sacred house with the resolve to visit it often, and the
impressions of the love of God to men were so forcibly
within me, that they also accompanied and refreshed
me in my sleep. Yet, alas! this beneficial impression
vanished soon, by reason of the implanted prejudices
against Christianity, and of the unbelief which had
already taken root in me, even in the Scriptures of
the Old Testament. But since that night I felt, more
and more, a disconsolate emptiness in my heart,
though I continued, at a distance, from the way of
life.' We hear here the knockings of God on the
door of an erring heart, which refused to open itself.
How often must the gracious God visit a man, now
with love and then with affliction, before He can gain
admittance into his soul. But a Jew has still more
difficulties to contend against; for the prejudices
against Christianity, which he imbibes from his youth,
arise from the natural heart as soon as it has come
under the influence of the truth. He has to contend
not only against the enemy of unbelief, but also
against the enemy of superstition, which bars his way in
every direction. Though Goldberg was surrounded
by various Christians at Neuwied, and came, sometimes,
in contact with the Moravian brethren, yet
many years passed before he submitted to the Word
of God, and found the peace which the world can
neither give nor take away. It is very telling for the
character of Goldberg that he chose Neuwied for his
home. With his former principal at Hamburg, he
continued a friendly correspondence, and received
from him repeated invitations to return to the situation,
where every prospect for his advancement and
happiness awaited him. But he was firm, and felt no
matrimonial inclinations for the rich merchant's
daughter, but rather chose for his partner the daughter
of Solomon Rubens, the Jewish butcher at Neuwied.
They were married in 1806, and she brought him
something better than money—a true and loving
heart; which helped him to carry his burden, and
was ready with him to cast that burden upon the
mighty shoulders of the Saviour, and to participate
in his joy and peace. Nevertheless, many a rivulet
flows into the Rhine, and the couple had to drink much of
the bitter waters of Marah, before they tasted of the cup
of salvation. I will only mention a few instances:—
"When Goldberg established his own home, he
resumed his connexion with his family, not only by
correspondence but by paying them a visit, which he
had long yearned to do. In the very fruitful year of
1811 he started upon his journey, in spite of the
dissuasion of the Austrian ambassador at Frankfort,
who had told him that he was liable to punishment
in his country, because he had failed to present himself
for military service. Safely arrived at Regensburg,
the superintendent of the police refused at first to
give a visé to his passport for Austria, as it had not
the signature of the ambassador, but he and his wife
at last prevailed over the officer. In Vienna, again,
the police told him that he would have to be transported
home as a transgressor of the law, but through
the influence of a banker, a cousin of Goldberg, and
by means of a bribe, he was permitted to remain
some time in Vienna unmolested. On his return
journey to the Rhine he experienced immediate
Divine protection, even in a more striking manner.
He had made this journey on foot, and came one day
very tired to a village and rested a little in an hotel.
Black clouds covered the sky and announced the
approach of a storm, when Goldberg resumed his
march, though against the warning of the hostess, as
he was very anxious to see his wife and children as
soon as possible. As soon as he entered a thick
forest, the rain came down in torrents, accompanied
by thunder and lightning, and the wanderer had to
stop. There was an open space in the forest with
only a few stumps of trees in it, and he was meditating
upon which of the stumps he should sit down. He
decided for the one which stood on the right. Scarcely
had he sat down, when the stump on the left was
struck by lightning and shivered to pieces. He was
thus much impressed with the wonderful protecting
care of the providence of God.
"The Jews have many nice customs and rites as
well as beautiful prayers. When the Spirit of God
will some day revive this people, then will many a
Jewish form and custom, which is now performed like
an empty ceremony, be exercised in spirit and leave
a blessing. One of these customs is, that after the
service on the Sabbath and on feast days, the
children approach the parents, who lay their hands
on them and bless them.[13] Also, when a Jew goes on
a journey, the members of his family follow him and
pronounce a blessing. It was so before Goldberg
started on his journey that his mother-in-law laid her
hands on his head, blessed him, and then added:
'Farewell, we shall never see one another again.'
Yet Goldberg could not believe that these parting
words would be fulfilled. When on his journey back
he spent a night at Regensburg, and awoke early in
the morning, there suddenly appeared to him near
his bed, the form of a friendly woman, dressed in
white, who looked at him complacently. He recognized
her as his mother-in-law, looked at his watch, it
was four o'clock, and was greatly astonished. He
rose up and resumed his journey, and when he
arrived at Frankfort, he met a Jew from Neuwied, of
whom he enquired after his family, and was told by
him that they were all well, and at last that his
mother-in-law had died. Now he understood
the meaning of the apparition. He used often to
refer to this event and say: 'You know that I am
no believer in ghost stories, yet I have, myself,
experienced, and am convinced, that spirits can be
in communication with one another.' Deeply moved,
he returned to his family, and his arrival was to them
a great comfort.
"We should have thought that all these experiences
would have caused Goldberg to think right earnestly
of making his peace with God, but this was not yet
the case. When a man does not read the Word of
God with prayer, and does not seek the influence of
the Holy Spirit, no conversion can take place in his
heart. Goldberg, at this period, had lost all faith in
the Bible. He belonged to a society of so-called
enlightened Jews at Neuwied, who contributed to
a periodical entitled 'Measaph.' He, himself, wrote
many nice Hebrew articles, with the object of enlightening
his co-religionists, though his own mind
was yet surrounded by darkness. His Jewish friends
and some Christians used to read novels together,
and lived according to the pernicious principles
which the frivolous books inculcated. But though
he was a member of this circle, yet the good hand of
the invisible God kept him from falling into gross
sins, so that all his experiences of Divine help and
protection contributed, at least, to maintain in him
the fear of God. He used often to speak of this with
great thankfulness.
"The Lord had also continually given him a cross
to bear, in order to bend his stiff neck. In those times
of dreadful wars, Goldberg, on account of his knowledge
of the Polish and Russian languages, was often
obliged to act as interpreter among the troops of these
nations who had their quarters there.
"In 1814, he was called one evening, very late, to
quiet an uproar that had arisen among the Russian
soldiers. This accomplished, he returned home late
in the night, and in the darkness he did not observe
a waggon that stood in the way, and fell over the shaft
and broke his leg; and, consequently, was laid up for
several weeks.
"In November, 1815, a daughter was born to him;
another, four years of age, suddenly died on the same
day. His wife, likewise, fell into a dangerous illness,
which lasted twenty-four weeks, and from continued
watching by her bedside, he became exhausted and
extremely dejected. He described his experience of
that time thus:—'Placed in a condition of tedious
misery and all kinds of sorrow, and not having a
single sympathetic soul to comfort me, I became
utterly dejected. I could not think of God with a
feeling heart, and, therefore, suffered indescribable
pangs in body and soul. When once I lay down at
midnight, and placed my miserable condition vividly
before me, a feeling of despair seized me, and I cried
out: "Lord, how long?" But immediately God set
me up by instilling a beam of hope within my soul,
that He would soon deliver me out of my trouble.
This new hope revived me, and I felt peace; my wife,
also, became better that very night and felt a refreshing
influence. Then I went in a corner, wept and
prayed for the help of God in the sense of Ps. xxxii.
and xxxviii., and vowed to the Lord to read again
His Word with reverence, and to place myself entirely
under His guidance, and to be no longer so distrustful.
From this moment another Spirit had the rule over
me. Injurious books which had led me to unbelief
were laid aside, and the Bible had a new attraction
for me. Now also a longing after the promised
Redeemer revived in me. In this manner, He who
searches the hearts, and is near to them who seek
Him in sincerity, prepared me gradually for the
time when He, as the good Shepherd, would completely
open the door to His fold for me, and translate
me out of the darkness into His marvellous light.'
So Goldberg could speak after he had already come
to the knowledge of Jesus; but the way in which this
was brought about was, in its beginning, obscure.
He, himself, tells of the first occasion thereto:
"'In August, 1817, a learned Jew, who had recently
come from London, where he was teacher for a long
time, sent for me, and told me, in a cautioning tone,
that a certain gentleman had visited him on that day
and put the astonishing question to him whether
there were not some Jews there who would be inclined
to read the New Testament in the Hebrew language;
in which case he could supply them with it gratis.
Then, he added, that there is in London a Society for
Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, having
agents abroad of whom this gentleman must be one,
and, therefore, I should beware of coming in contact
with him. But this communication effected a different
impression upon me to that which was
intended. The gentleman against whom I was
warned was neither a preacher nor a missionary, but
a universally respected merchant, by the name of
Keetman. I had a great desire of becoming
acquainted with this dangerous man, who took so
much trouble to visit the Jews and to talk to them
on religious matters, and as I was not in the habit of
visiting people without any occasion, this desire increased
the more. At last I ventured, one Saturday, to
go to Mr. Keetman, and say to him that I had heard
that he had Hebrew books, and if he wished me to
copy them I should be ready to do so.' In this manner
Goldberg became acquainted with an earnest and
warm friend of Israel, and this acquaintanceship
formed a new chapter in his life, which I cannot
better designate than his awakening."
Goldenberg, D., was born in Piatka, Volhynia, in
1805. His father, Hayim Baruch, was a learned
rabbi, and consulted by others on difficult rabbinic
questions. His grandfather was a Zadik or wonder
rabbi, and used to talk to him about the speedy
coming of the Messiah. At the age of 10 his parents
found him a bride, and at the age of 17 he was married,
and went to live with his father-in-law in
Tschidoroff. Passing through a severe illness, he began
to think earnestly about the state of his soul
before God. He felt the burden of his sins and
frequently prayed for the advent of the Redeemer.
His friends advised him to divert his mind by more
diligent study of the Talmud, but he remained restless.
At this time, in 1821, cholera visited the place,
and he dreaded to die. Passing by just then a
Christian school, he heard the children pronounce the
ineffable name of Jehovah, which attracted his attention,
so he bought a catechism to see what the
Christian doctrine was, but he laid it aside. Then he
received a packet of tracts and a New Testament
from Myerson, who got them from the L.J.S. missionary
Moritz when he visited Berditscheff. He was
not long after convinced of the truth of the Gospel,
visited Moritz, and with his friend went to Berlin,
where he was instructed and baptized by Pastor
Schultz ("Jewish Intelligence," 1824). His father came
to Berlin and tried to win him back to Judaism, but
when he found that he was thoroughly in earnest and
happy in his faith, he left him in peace in a friendly
manner. Goldenberg went then to London, and was
thence sent to Poland, to witness for Christ among
his brethren.
Goldinger, Tobias W., was a L.J.S. missionary in
Poland in the forties of the nineteenth century, where
he laboured successfully. He was, under God, the
means of the conversion of a number of Jews, one of
whom may be named here. Goldinger had once given
the "Life of Friedrich Augusti" to the son of Rabbi
L. Altschiller, of Marronopol, and this led to his
eventual conversion. The case attracted at the time
much public attention, as the young man passed
through a great struggle with his family, but came
out triumphant. Goldinger laboured latterly at
Breslau, where the writer had the privilege of making
his acquaintance at the end of 1872, and was very
much impressed by his gentle Christian spirit. It is
a pity that Pastor de le Roi, who was at that time his
colleague, did not give us more information about him.
It is probably because Goldinger, like many other
Jewish converts, out of modesty was reluctant to
publish to the world his personal history.
Goldsmid, Frederick, is known to have laboured as
a successful missionary in India.
Goldstern, Israel, a native of Lemberg, Galicia,
educated in strict orthodoxy. Already in his early
manhood he became President of a Talmud Union.
Failing in health, he journeyed to the Bath Heines,
and on his way met a Christian merchant who, in a
conversation, convinced him that the Talmud has no
Divine authority. This shook his faith in modern
Judaism. For two years he had no peace of mind.
His widowed mother, in order to divert his attention,
got him married. But it did not last long before he
came into collision with his family on account of
his religious views, so he left for Constantinople,
whither his wife followed him. Eventually he was
baptized by Pastor Bonnet, in Cologne, in 1875,
while his wife still hesitated to take the decisive step.
His father-in-law, when he found out the place of
their residence, brought a suit against him for embezzling
his property, because before he left Lemberg
he had pawned his wife's ornaments, which he himself
had given her. However, his friends at Cologne,
paid the whole sum. He afterwards studied theology
at Barmen, and became missionary of the Westphalian
Rhenish (now called West German) Society, under
which he has been labouring with much blessing
upon his efforts ever since. He succeeded the writer
at Frankfort-on-the-Maine.
Gottfried, Johann Adam (Nathan), born at Altona
in 1726, died in 1773. After losing his father in his
youth, his mother sent him to an uncle, who was a
diamond cutter in London, to learn the trade. There
he somehow heard the name of Jesus and got to love
it. He soon returned, and his mother went with him
to another relation, Rabbi Koppel Fränkel, at Fürth,
under whose auspices he made rapid progress in Jewish
learning, so that at the age of 17 he was asked to
take charge of a school in the country. Two years
before, two rabbis predicted that he would yet become
a Meshummad. The Jews in former days used sometimes
to call a sharp boy Meshummad or ganov (thief).
At the age of 21 he passed by an evangelical church
at Sulzberg, and listened to the worship there, and was
solemnly moved. Henceforth he studied the Scriptures,
especially Isaiah liii., as he had heard that
Christians refer to it. The result was that he made a
public confession of his faith, and was baptized by Pastor
Pfeiffer, at Erlangen, in 1750. He studied theology,
but was too humble and timid to ascend the pulpit.
So he maintained himself by teaching Hebrew, Latin,
Greek, and French, and by writing. One of his works
is entitled: "Der troslose Jude in der letzten Todesstunde."
Another is, "Der bussfertige Sünder
Schriftgemässe Vorstellung und freundliche ermahnung
an sämmtliche proselyten der jetzigen Zeit.
Vernünftiger Unterricht über die natürliche Religion
und desen Vornehmste Streitigkeiten und über die
Christliche Religion."
Gottfried, Philip Selig, born in 1722 in a little town
near Halle. When ten years old his mother died,
and the Jewish authorities would not allow her to be
buried there, because they had heard a rumour that
"she had in her dying hour committed her soul into
the hands of Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world."
His father had to take her at night to Halle for burial.
Philip was then sent to a school at Fürth, where he
studied the Talmud diligently. He narrates in his
autobiography, 3 volumes, Leipzig, 1755: "I can, without
boasting, say that when I was 13 years old I
could repeat by heart 500 pages of the Talmud without
mistake, and deliver a Derashah (sermon) on a solemn
occasion." His father then got a theological student
to instruct him in Latin and German, but made it a
condition that he should not mention the subject of
religion to the boy. However, the teacher and his
clever, inquisitive, pupil soon had disputations together.
It happened one day that a Jewish girl passed by
their house, dressed in black and accompanied by a
number of Christians leading her to church to be baptized.
A neighbour asked Gottfried whether he liked
the procession, and his reply was that "it looks like
leading a criminal to the place of execution." "Quite
right," said the other, "the girl is led as a sinner to
Jesus to have her sins washed away by the blood
which He shed on the cross." Gottfried continued his
disputes about Christianity with his teacher, who
sometimes was perplexed in not knowing how to
answer his objections. He brought a Hebrew scholar
to him and they read Isaiah liii. together, Gottfried
quoting the rabbinical interpretations of it, and the
other refuting them. After the debate was over,
Gottfried earnestly reflected upon the subject, and was
convinced that the Christians are right. He then
bought a New Testament for 12 groschen, and studied
it critically. After a long inward struggle and earnest
prayer, he by the aid of the Holy Spirit triumphed
over his intense prejudices, and applied to a pastor for
Christian instruction. Before his baptism, in 1738, he
had to answer 400 questions in his examination.
Two sisters followed his example. The father disinherited
them all. The convert Friedrich Augusti
was then very kind to him. In 1788 he published a
Kabbalistic work entitled "Sepher Shimush Tehillim."
His chief work was his weekly paper, "Der Jude," in 9
volumes, Leipzig, 1767-1771.
Gottheil, Rev. Paul Eduard, brother of Rabbi
Gustav Gottheil, of the Temple Emmanuel, New York,
born at Franstadt (Germany), April 5, 1818, died at
Stuttgart in 1893. He was one of the most distinguished
converts and missionaries in the nineteenth
century. He studied theology at Basel and then
entered the service of the British Society in 1848, in
which he continued all his life. He was for many
years minister of the English Church at Canstadt,
and then minister of the Diakonessenhaus at Stuttgart.
In both offices he was very successful. Some of those
he baptized at Nuremberg, Canstadt and Stuttgart,
have become ministers of the Gospel or missionaries
to the Jews, like Bahri and Löwen, who both laboured
at Vienna. He published "Blätter für die Evangelische
Mission unter Israel," 1850-1858; "Der
Messias Israel's Hoffnung und aller Völker Verlangen,"
1863 (translated into English); "Mishan Lehem,
Lebensbrot für Gottes Volk aus Gotteswort"
(Hebrew and German), 1871, Yiddish and German
1873; "Die Arbeit an den Einzelnen," in "Nathaniel,"
1891, No. 6; an extensive Memoir of Professor Franz
Delitzsch in "The Everlasting Nation," 1890.
Gottlieb, K. J., was a native of Sadagora (Bukovina,
Austria), a town which has been the residence of
several generations of wonder-working rabbis for about
a hundred years, and has become the Mecca of the
Chassidim. Naturally he was brought up in strict
orthodoxy. An elder brother of his, however, managed
to learn German and to study medicine, and settle as
a practitioner in Pesth. At the age of 16 Gottlieb
visited his brother, in whose house he found a Hebrew
Bible with a German translation, which he diligently
read, and his brother explained to him difficult
passages, directing his special attention to Messianic
prophecies without at once disclosing his own views.
This excited his interest, and he began to enquire into
the subject. He then happened to meet with a Jewish
tract, entitled "Source of Salvation," in which the year
1864 was assigned for the advent of the Messiah, but
in which the Messiahship of Jesus was distinctly
repudiated. This caused him to ask his brother if he
could throw light on the subject, and to his surprise
he found that his brother had long been a baptized
Christian, and he resolved to become one likewise if
he should by instruction be convinced. A place was
then found for him as Hebrew teacher in the Scotch
Mission school, and he received Christian instruction
from Pastor König and Pastor Wagner. However, it
was found advisable to send him to Prague, where,
after receiving further instruction from Mr. Schönberger,
he was baptized by him in 1876. Gottlieb studied
afterwards at Basel, and for a time was a missionary
of the Free Church of Scotland, but most of his
missionary career was in the service of the Berlin
Society, in Berlin, Jassy, Chernowitz, near his home,
and lastly in Stanislau. In all these places he was
much beloved for his excellent qualities and true
Christian piety. He died comparatively young, and
"the remembrance of his name is for a blessing."
Green, Rev. Samuel J., was baptized in 1859 by
the Rev. John Wilkinson, the founder of the Mildmay
Mission to the Jews. He went to Australia and
preached the Gospel to the Jews at Bathurst, where
he also built a church in 1879.
Gurland, Rev. Rudolf Hermann, born in Wilna,
1836, of a family which were Spanish Gentile Christians,
who became Jews and had fled from the Inquisition
at the beginning of the eighteenth century into Russia.
The father was a strictly orthodox and bigoted Jew,
and sent his son to various yeshivas (rabbinical
colleges), so that in 1857 he received the title of Doctor,
and was called to be the President of the Seminary
at Berditscheff, where he remained till 1860. He tried
at first to introduce reform in the Synagogue, and
wrote a work under the title "Das Judenthum und
die Reformversuche des 17 und 18 Jahrhundert"
(only in M.S.), but won no sympathy for his attempt.
Meeting a traveller in 1862, he received from him a
Hebrew New Testament, and at the same time
learned from him about Pastor Faltin's missionary
activity at Kischineff. He went there and became
rabbi of a congregation. One day he came to Faltin
and asked him if he could get him pupils for caligraphy
and drawing, and showed him some specimens
of his work. Faltin tried to do so but failed, and then
proposed that they should read the Hebrew Bible
together. Gurland agreed, but made it a condition
that the main issue between Judaism and Christianity
should not be introduced. Some time passed in
reading book after book of the Old Testament, and
Gurland gave no sign of any change in him. They
were reading Isaiah liii. for the second time. When
Faltin finished, Gurland said, "Read it over again,"
but he could not wait till he had done so, because he
was inwardly moved, and went home in silence.
Faltin then fell on his knees and earnestly prayed
that God might open the eyes of the rabbi to see
Christ in all His glory. The next time Gurland came,
he asked Faltin to read again the same chapter; and
then he could no longer resist the striving of the
spirit within his heart, and exclaimed, "I do not know
what it is, I now find much in the Bible which I have
not found before, although I know it by heart. The
chapter must refer to your Jesus, and I must soon
acknowledge that He is the promised Messiah." The
result of this meeting was, that the rabbi became the
pupil of the pastor, receiving frequent instruction
from him in the doctrines of the Gospel. But this
frequent intercourse between them could not fail to be
observed by the Jews, yet they at first had not the
slightest suspicion of the rabbi's intention, but on the
contrary thought that Faltin was inclined to embrace
Judaism. In fact, one of them told this to one of his
congregation. This man came to the pastor and
questioned him about it, and was assured by him that
he would never deny his Saviour, but it was possible
that Gurland might embrace Christianity. Several
rabbis came now to Gurland and, like the Protestant,
asked him whether Faltin wished to become a Ger
(proselyte) to Judaism. This brought the matter to a
climax, and he confessed before them all that Jesus was
the Messiah and proved his convictions from the
Bible. They cried, "You have a false Bible," but he
answered, "Compare it with your own and see whether
it is false." What he had to suffer afterwards, need
not here be described. He and his wife were baptized
on Easter Sunday, 1864, before a large congregation
of Christians and Jews. He then studied theology in
Berlin, returned to Kischineff and became assistant
pastor to Faltin, when many Jewish converts were the
result of their labours. Gurland was later chief
pastor at Mitau, working at the same time among the
Jews. His latter years were devoted to spreading the
New Testament in Wilna, Odessa and the Baltic provinces,
under the auspices of the Mildmay Mission to
the Jews. Professor Delitzsch called him "A noble soul."
Gutenhauer, Gutschalk Eduard, after having been
won for Christ and baptized by the Rev. W. Ayerst
in Berlin in 1836, studied philosophy and became
Professor at the University of Breslau in 1841. There
he published a work about Leibnitz, and another
about Lessing, 1842, 1852.
Halbmillion, Jacob, a convert of the L.J.S. at
Jerusalem, was afterwards house-father of the Wanderers'
Home in London, under Dr. Stern, and then one
of the first missionaries of the Mildmay Mission,
zealously labouring in London and then in North
Africa. He died in Morocco in 1888.
Hamburger, a convert in Holland, died in 1872.
Da Costa delivered an oration at his funeral.
Händler, Rev. H. G., born in Warsaw in the thirties
of the nineteenth century. In his youth he became
distinguished for his Talmudical learning, so that the
epithet Harif or Nilley (expert) was applied to him
at that time. Gifted with a good memory, he easily
acquired a knowledge of German, Polish, Latin, and
Greek, and he compiled a collection of noble sayings
in the Greek Classics. When quite a young man he
came to London, and was converted to Christianity
under the ministry of Dr. McCaul, Reichardt, and others,
in Palestine Place. After four years at the Operative
Jewish Converts' Institution he studied in the L.J.S.
Hebrew College, and then laboured as a missionary
in Breslau, and in Tunis. In 1873 he opened a school
for Jewish children (mostly girls) at Cracow, and carried
it on successfully for about ten years. In 1883, he was
transferred to Vienna, where he had many tokens of
Divine blessing upon his efforts. One of his converts
has for many years been a Chaplain in India, and is
still there. Händler assisted Professor Delitzsch in
his translation of the New Testament into Hebrew, and
furnished the abbreviations to Professor Dalman's Chaldaic
Dictionary, revised Biesenthal's rabbinic "Commentar
der Romans," wrote several tracts, and revised
the Judæo-German translation of the Bible for the
Trinitarian Bible Society.
Harzuge, Johannes, brought out a German translation
of the New Testament in Hebrew characters
in 1550. Some Hebrew words were retained in this
translation for the purpose of making it more intelligible
to the Jewish readers at that time. A
specimen of this translation will be found in Wolff,
(Bibliotheca Hebraica iv. 205).
Hausmeister, Rev. Jacob August, was born in
Stuttgart, 1806. His father was a quiet man, and his
mother was rather inclined towards Christianity, and
often ejaculated, "O that my son Jacob might become
a Christian. We Jews cannot keep the commandments
and are therefore without consolation, whilst Christians
are saved by grace." Hausmeister was left an
orphan when still young. Left without a guardian,
he was inclined to live a worldly life. Meeting a
Christian companion, he followed him to Church, and
listened to the fervent preacher Hofacker. His uncle,
a watchmaker, to whom he was apprenticed, heard of it
and was very angry with him, but he persevered in
going to Church. Hausmeister was baptized by
Dekan Heswig in Esslingen in 1825. He then studied
at Basel, and afterwards in the Hebrew College,
Palestine Place. In 1832 he was appointed missionary
by the L.J.S., at Strasburg, where he laboured
zealously till the end. Three scores of converts were
the fruit of his labours. Hausmeister did also much
literary work. He wrote the tract (1) "Wörte der
Liebe an meine Brüder nach dem Fleisch"; (2) "Gespräch
zweier jüdischen Freunde über das Wort
Gottes"; (3) "Winke und Mittheilungen über die Mission
unter Israel"; (4) "Ueber den Unterricht der Proselyten,
Evangelische Mission unter Israel"; also biographies
of Börling and of Goldberg, his near relatives.
Hefter, Rev. Albert David, born in Dombrowa,
Galicia, in 1819. His father was a well-to-do jeweller.
His mother had made a vow that he should become a
rabbi. When he was only four years of age he was instructed
by a Zadik, or wonder working rabbi. Among
the books of his father he found a New Testament, and
questioned him as to its contents, but it was snatched
away. Whilst he was in the Yeshiva, his parents died,
and he went to Tarnopol, to live with a married sister,
where he pursued his studies, but took offence at the
philosophical opinions which some of his fellow students
entertained. One of them offered to teach him
Science, and he consented with a view of bringing his
friend back to Talmudism. After a time he
came to Cracow, where he got acquainted with the
L.J.S. missionary Hoff, who gave him to read "The
Confession of a Proselyte," by Fränkel, and also the
New Testament. This brought him to a knowledge
of the Saviour. But it was not thought safe to
baptize him in Galicia, so he was sent to Bellson, in
Berlin, who baptized him in 1846. Hefter was one of a
band of noble and most learned missionaries of the
L.J.S. in the nineteenth century. He was
stationed eight years in Jerusalem, then a short time in
Pesth, and then in Memel and Posen, and, lastly, for
many years in Frankfort. One of his converts there
is the very able and successful missionary, Rev. M.
Kameras, of the British Society, at Vienna. A blind
Jew who was baptized by Hefter, died on Christmas
Day, 1881, and his last words were, "I shall see Him."
Heilbronner, Johannes Christlieb (Moses Prager),
was baptized in Heilbronn in 1709, his wife in Pirma
in 1716. He taught Hebrew and Talmud in various
universities. He published a tract on Isaiah liii.,
Tübingen, 1710; "Klare Beweisthümer über Jesum
Christum, dass Er der wahre Messias und Sohn Gottes
ist, aus dem Alten Testamente, der Rabbinen und
Kabbalisten Schriften, nachgewiesen mit einem
Anhang, was für einen Messias die Juden erwarten,"
Dresden, 1715; "Eine Widerlegung der Einwürfe der
Juden gegen die Geschlechtsregister Christi, besonders
wider die Schrift Chizzuk Emunah gerichtet,"
Hamburg, 1718.
Heinersdorf, Julius Christian, born in Breslau in
1805. When a little boy at school he had to suffer
much persecution from the Christian boys, and he
became a bitter enemy of Christianity, but in riper
age he got to know and esteem true Christians, who
read the Old and New Testaments with him, and
through their influence he was baptized in 1826. He
then studied theology, and became a pastor, and later
superintendent (equal to a Bishop or Moderator) near
Königsberg. He was a gifted and pious man, and
his ministry was blessed.
Helic, Lucas, was a member of the Moravian brethren
in 1570, when, owing to his excellent Hebrew scholarship,
he was elected as co-translator of the Kalitzir
Bible. He received Moravian ordination, and
preached the Gospel till 1858; also printed his sermons
for circulation.
Hellmuth, Isaac. The fact that the subject of this
sketch was one of the three Hebrew Christian Bishops
of the last century—Bishops Alexander and Schereschewsky
being the other two—invests his life and
memory with a special interest for all workers for
Israel.
Whilst Alexander spent his life in actively seeking
"the lost sheep of the house of Israel" in various
lands of their dispersion, and Schereschewsky the
"other sheep" of the Redeemer's fold in the heathen
Empire of China, Bishop Hellmuth's career was
mainly associated with the promotion of the spiritual
and intellectual interests of the sons and daughters of
the Greater Britain beyond the seas.
Isaac Hellmuth was born at Warsaw, Poland, on
December 14th, 1820, and was from early childhood
instructed and trained "according to the perfect manner
of the law of his fathers," in Rabbinical schools of
high repute, where he acquired great proficiency in
Biblical and Talmudical learning. His parents gave
him a thorough religious and secular education. He
was sent at the age of sixteen to the University of
Breslau, where he continued with success his studies
in classical and Oriental literature. At that time Dr.
S. Neumann, a Hebrew Christian, and a missionary
of the London Society for Promoting Christianity
amongst the Jews, was stationed at Breslau. Being
also a professor at that University, he was more especially
brought into contact with learned Jews and
students, over whom he exercised great influence. It
was through him that young Hellmuth had his attention
drawn to Christianity. In 1841 he came to
England, and was baptized in All Saints' Church,
Liverpool, by the Rev. H. S. Joseph, a missionary of
the same Society. Isaac had two brothers. When
he was baptized his father cut him out of his will
altogether. But, on his father's death, his two brothers,
although they themselves remained Jews, generously
restored to their Christian brother his share of their
father's property.
After remaining some three years in England,
studying English theology under Hugh McNeile,
Haldane Stewart and others, Hellmuth left for
Canada in 1844, taking with him commendatory letters
from many eminent clergymen, including one
from Dr. Sumner, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury.
Hellmuth's ministerial life was principally
spent in Canada, where he had a distinguished career,
for many particulars of which we are indebted to
"Bishops of the Day," which particulars were most
likely furnished by himself. Hellmuth was ordained
both deacon and priest in 1846 by Dr. Mountain,
Bishop of Quebec. He received the Lambeth degree
of D.D. in 1853, and the honorary degrees of D.C.L.
from Trinity College, Toronto, and D.D. from the
University of Lennoxville in 1854. He spent eight
years as rector of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and as professor
of Hebrew and Rabbinical Literature at Bishop's
College, Lennoxville, of which institution he was also
vice-principal. His views were strongly Evangelical.
He resigned his posts in Quebec on being made
general superintendent of the Colonial and Continental
Church Society in British North America. The
Bishop of Huron, Dr. Cronyn, had been much troubled
about Provost Whitaker, of Trinity College, Toronto,
whose teaching he considered unsound, although the
other Bishops of the province, on being referred to,
upheld it. The Bishop, not satisfied, decided to
establish at London, Ontario, a college more under
his own control. This resulted in the formation and
partial endowment of Huron College, which was
opened in 1863 under the presidency of Dr. Hellmuth,
who was also made archdeacon of Huron. His
educational enthusiasm led him to start a college for
boys, called Hellmuth Boys' College. Recalling his
efforts in its behalf, he said: "Twice I visited England
to plead its cause, and through the liberal gifts of
friends in the mother land, the grounds and buildings
for the Divinity College were secured. Amongst the
benefactors of this College, one valued friend, the
Rev. Alfred Peache, endowed the Divinity chair with
the munificent sum of £5,000 sterling.
"Huron College faithfully fulfilled its trust and
served its designed end. Over one hundred devoted
ministers of Christ's Gospel have been trained within
its walls, the majority of whom are labouring with
success in our own Diocese, while the remainder have
been called to occupy prominent positions in various
other parts of our Dominion."
In 1867 Dr. Hellmuth was made rector of St. Paul's
Cathedral and Dean of Huron. He used his large
private means unsparingly in advancing the cause of
higher education. In 1869 he launched the Hellmuth
Ladies' College.
The venerable Canon Christopher, rector of St.
Aldate's Church, Oxford, thus alludes to this institution:—"He
found that Canadian Protestants were
sending their daughters to convent schools, because
they did not know of any good Protestant ladies'
school. He established an excellent school for young
ladies near his own house. I addressed nearly a
hundred young ladies in this school in 1872. Some
of these had to travel twelve days and nights from
their homes to their school, in the absence of a railway
from British Columbia."
Dr. Hellmuth was chosen on July 19, 1871, by a
large majority of the diocesan synod to be Bishop
Coadjutor of Huron, with the title of Bishop of
Norfolk and the right of succession. Dr. Cronyn died
in the following September, and Dr. Hellmuth became
Bishop of Huron. He had been consecrated in St.
Paul's Cathedral, London, Ontario, on August 24, 1871.
In 1877 the Bishop formed a scheme for a Western
University in connexion with Huron College, subscribing
no less than 10,000 dollars towards it. In the
following year he attended the Lambeth Conference,
and took confirmations for the Bishop of London in
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He came to
England again, in 1880, to obtain funds for the Western
University, which was opened on October 5, 1881,
with a medical faculty in connexion with it. By 1881
the Bishop's exertions had proved so successful that
the S.P.G. aid was no longer required, and the diocese
could rely on its own resources.
During the Bishop's episcopate, which lasted from
1871 to 1883, great progress was made in every department
of diocesan work. The number of livings
increased from 34 to 65; the number of churches from
149 to 207; and the clergy from 92 to 135. The
Sunday schools rose from 110 to 166; and the communicants
from 4,390 to 8,910. Dr. Langtrey, in his
"Colonial Church Histories,"[14] says that the Bishop
"devoted himself with great earnestness to his work,
and soon became very popular throughout the country."
The Rev. Dr. Hurst, a resident of twenty years in
Huron, thus referred to the Bishop's labours:—"I
can speak from personal knowledge of his liberality,
zeal, and self-denying efforts to make his diocese an
active mission field, and a model for higher Christian
education—much at his own personal expense—in
both of which God greatly blessed his instrumentality.
His indefatigable and successful labours have been
acknowledged by all parties in the Church."[15]
The Bishop resigned the see of Huron in 1883
under somewhat peculiar circumstances. The Bishop
of Ripon (Dr. Bickersteth) desired to have Dr.
Hellmuth appointed his Suffragan under the Act of
Henry VIII. Dr. Hellmuth, being informed that his
title was to be Bishop of Hull, and that the letters
patent could not be executed till he had resigned the
see of Huron, formally resigned that see on March
29, 1883.
In his last charge, delivered before the Synod of
the Diocese, the Bishop's broad and loving sympathies
found vent in the following expressions:—"I am fully
persuaded, as I said on a former occasion, that the
glory of the Church is her assimilation to Christ.
And never will her usefulness and her splendour
reach their meridian until the love of a common
Saviour shall bind together every heart and unite
every hand. Envy, jealousy, evil surmisings and uncharitableness
can only tend to weaken and scatter
the resources of the Church and palsy her exertions;
but, when through the abundant outpouring of the
Holy Spirit, arm shall be linked to arm, and heart to
heart, and prayer to prayer,—when to love and serve
Christ, and to anticipate heaven, and to save immortal
souls,—when these shall be the grand and all absorbing
terms of Christian communion,—oh, then, what a firm
and powerful phalanx shall go forth from the Church
of the living God against the powers of darkness and
the enemies of men! For this oneness of aim I
would again repeat, Pray, strive and labour."
The news of the Bishop's resignation was received
with great regret throughout the Dominion, and a
service of plate was presented to him with an address
from the standing committee of the diocese.
On March 21, 1883, the Bishop of Ripon issued a
Pastoral to his diocese, in which he formally announced
the Royal assent to the appointment of Dr. Hellmuth
as Bishop Suffragan of Hull. In the following May,
nearly two months after Dr. Hellmuth's resignation of
the see of Huron, the law officers of the Crown discovered
that the Act of Henry VIII. did not apply to
any one already in Episcopal orders, and that therefore
Dr. Hellmuth could not become Bishop Suffragan
of Hull. Bishop Hellmuth, who was thus placed in an
extremely anomalous position, appealed to the then
Governor-General of Canada, Lord Lorne (the present
Duke of Argyll), who made representations to Mr.
Gladstone, at that time the Prime Minister. In reply,
Mr. Gladstone pointed out that the Bishop of Ripon
still intended to avail himself of Dr. Hellmuth's services
as his Assistant Bishop or Bishop Coadjutor. Bishop
Hellmuth then took up his work in the diocese of
Ripon as Assistant Bishop, although the position
was obviously very different from what he had been
led to expect when he resigned the see of Huron.
With the consent of Bishop Bickersteth, further
representations were made to Mr. Gladstone, who
replied expressing regret for the error which had been
committed. By the death of Bishop Bickersteth, in
1884, Dr. Hellmuth's position became still more trying,
for his commission as Bishop Coadjutor ceased,
and he made another appeal to Mr. Gladstone for
some suitable preferment, but without success. He
was rector and rural dean of Bridlington from 1885 to
1891, and perpetual curate of Bessingby from 1888 to
1891. In the latter year the Colonial and Continental
Church Society gave him the chaplaincy of Holy
Trinity, Pau, which he held for six years. He was
subsequently rector of Compton-Pauncefoot, Somerset,
from 1897 to 1899, when he retired owing to failing
health. He passed away within two years, on May
28, 1901, at the advanced age of eighty-one.
Bishop Hellmuth was the author of "The
Biblical Thesaurus" (1884), a literal translation and
critical analysis of every word in the original languages
of the Old Testament, with explanatory notes and
appendices; and "The Divine Dispensation," a critical
commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures. Amongst
his minor contributions to literature may be mentioned
two articles in "The Everlasting Nation"; one on
"The Authenticity and Genuineness of the Pentateuch,"
(1867) and the other on "The Spirit of
Prophecy," a luminous paper on the allusions in the
Old Testament to the Messiah of his race.
The Bishop married, first, Catherine, daughter of
the late General Thomas Evans, C.B., who died in 1884,
and secondly, in 1886, Mary Louisa, second daughter
of Admiral the Hon. Arthur Duncombe, son of the
first Baron Feversham, and widow of the Hon. Ashley
Carr Glyn, son of the first Baron Wolverton.
The Bishop, as was natural, ever evinced hearty
and unbounded interest in the spiritual welfare of his
brethren according to the flesh, and on many occasions
advocated, from pulpit and platform, their claims to
the Gospel. In the work of the London Jews' Society
he was especially interested. Towards the end of
his life he frequently presided over the meetings of
its Committee, amongst whom he was ever a persona
grata. His solid learning, acquaintance with the
languages and modes of thought of his own people,
sound common sense, wise and prudent counsels, as
well as his urbanity and courtesy, made him an ideal
chairman. He had unlimited sympathy with those
engaged in what he regarded as a great and important
work, for he could enter fully into its arduous character
and numerous difficulties. Many a time did he pay
a friendly visit to the Society's House,—a delightful
interlude in official routine—to encourage and to sympathize;
on one occasion narrating the thrilling story
of how, in early youth, he had found Him whom his
soul loved. The Bishop's sterling qualities of heart
and mind, his confiding nature and buoyant temperament,
and his bright and happy face, always infused
sunshine wherever he went.
One who knew him writes:—"We cannot forego one
personal word in grateful appreciation and loving remembrance
of the charming personality of one, whom,
during the latter period of his long and honoured life,
we were privileged to call our friend. To know him was
indeed to love him as well as to honour and esteem.
His sweet and gentle nature, his amiable disposition, his
beautiful character, his fatherly attitude, and his unfailing
tenderness and sympathy, have indelibly associated
him in our mind with the beloved disciple St.
John, whose last words would have been natural indeed
upon his lips, 'Little children, love one another.'"
Heyman, Heinrich Wilhelm David, son of a shochet
(slaughterer) in poor circumstances. When he was
only ten years old, he was obliged to give lessons to
peasant boys in order to help his father. He was
fond of reading, and read Lessing's and Mendelssohn's
works, and this caused him to get new ideas of the
world, and to keep aloof from the Talmud. Coming in
contact later on with Dr. Heinrich Ditmar, the author
of a universal history, he learned from him to know the
Gospel, and he and his wife and three children were
baptized in 1833. Then his mother and wife refused to
have anything to do with him. Then a son and daughter
got very ill, and he was tempted with the thought that
he was punished for his apostasy, yet he persevered
in prayer, and could triumphantly exclaim in the
midst of his troubles, "Lord Jesus, Thou art still my
Lord and my Saviour." At last, in 1844, he was
called by the friends of Israel in Basel, to be the
principal of the house for proselytes in that city, which
office he held faithfully, with great ability and usefulness
in many directions, till his death in 1868.
One of his sons became pastor at Altbayern, and the
other, Frederick, who was formerly pastor in the Pfalz,
succeeded him as principal and agent of the Basel
Mission to the Jews, and became a professor in the
University there.
Herschell, Moses (Christian Moritz), was born at
Breslau, September 13, 1754. In 1804 he embraced
Christianity, and at his baptism assumed the name of
Christian Moritz. Among his works, the following
deserve mentioning: "Kampf der Jüdischen Hierarchie,"
Breslau, 1784; "Jüdische Intoleranz und Fanatismus
in Breslau," ib. 1789; "Patriotische Bemerkungen,"
ib. 1790; "Ueber die Allzufrühen Ehen der Jüdischen
Nation," 1790; "Apologie der Menschenrechte,"
Zurich, 1793; "Biographie des Jüdischen Gelehrten
und Dichters, Ephraim Moses Kuh," ib. 1791.
Herschell, Rev. Ridley Hayim, born at Stozelno
(Posen), April 7, 1807, was strictly brought up, together
with his four brothers, in Jewish orthodoxy. When
quite young he had a desire to become a rabbi, and
left home seeking to enter some rabbinical school.
In his wanderings he was overtaken by robbers,
but escaped. At the age of fourteen, he came to Rabbi
Aron in the town where his grandfather Hillel resided;
there he remained two years among the Chassidim,
seeking, after their manner, in vain to become perfectly
righteous before God. How he came to the knowledge
of Him who is the Lord our Righteousness, he has
himself recorded in the following pages:
"Having been favoured by God with pious parents,
their great care was to impress my mind from childhood
with a profound reverence for God, and for the
Holy Scriptures. I was taught to repeat the morning
and evening prayers with great solemnity; and on the
feast days my attention was particularly drawn to the
impressive confession in our Liturgy, 'It is because
of our sins we are driven away from our land,' &c.
On the Day of Atonement I used to see my devout
parents weep when they repeated the pathetic confession
that follows the enumeration of the sacrifices
which were appointed by God to be offered up for the
sins of omission; and many a time I shed sympathetic
tears as I joined them in saying, that we have now no
temple, no high priest, no altar, and no sacrifices. As
I advanced in years and understanding, my religious
impressions became stronger; fear and trembling
often took hold upon me; and what was then my
refuge,—what the balm for my wounded spirit?
Repeating more prayers, and asking God to accept
the calves of my lips. This satisfied my mind at the
time; but the satisfaction arose from ignorance of the
character of God as a holy and a just Being, and of
my own state as a guilty sinner, whose prayers
proceeding from unclean lips, could not be accepted
as a sweet savour by the thrice holy Lord God of
Sabaoth.
"I continued in this state of mind until I was about
sixteen years of age. During this period of my life,
I often spent three sleepless nights in the week,
studying the Talmud, and other Hebrew works. I
also committed to memory several chapters of the
prophets every week, in order that I might become
sufficiently familiar with the Hebrew language to
correspond in it. At this period I became acquainted
with a Polish Jew, who had studied several years at
the University of Berlin, and consequently had become
acquainted with Gentile literature. He strongly
advised me to give up the study of the Talmud, and
devote myself to the study of German and secular
literature. After a hard struggle of mind, I resolved
to follow his advice, and accordingly went to ——.
Here there was not only a change in the character of
my studies, but an entire change in my habits and
mode of life. Many things that I formerly regarded
as essential parts of my religion, were considered by
my fellow-students alt modisch (old fashioned), quite
unfit for the aufgeklärten (enlightened). At first my
conscience was much disturbed, and I was often very
unhappy; but, after a time, these feelings wore off; I
conformed to the manners of my fellow-students, and
I also 'lived like a Christian,' as the Jews in those
parts are wont to say of such of their brethren as have
no fear of God before their eyes. I formed acquaintance
with many young Gentiles; and this I could
now do with impunity, as neither they nor I troubled
ourselves about each other's religion; neither of us, in
reality, having any, although they called themselves
Christians, and I was a Jew. The only thing that
reminded me what people I belonged to, was the look
of contempt I received now and then from Christians;
and the little children in the streets calling after me,
'Jew, Jew.' Then, indeed, I realized that I belonged to
the people who have become a proverb and a by-word
among the Gentiles.
"I well remember the first time I ever heard of one
of my brethren becoming a convert to Christianity.
It was a young Jew, who was apprenticed to a tradesman
in the town where I studied. My idea of Jewish
converts to Christianity was, that they renounced
their national privileges and obligations; that they
separated themselves from the covenant God made
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and publicly joined
themselves to the ungodly Gentiles, who live without
God, and without hope in the world. Although at
this time I had laid aside many of the outward observances
of the Jewish religion, I had still a strong
attachment to the fundamental doctrines of the Jewish
faith, because I believed them to be of Divine origin.
The idea of any Jew becoming a Christian, therefore,
seemed to me a dreadful apostasy; and I regarded
the youth above-mentioned with mingled pity and
contempt, as one who had forsaken God, and given up
all hope of eternal life.
"I pass over in silence several years of my life,
which were devoted to the world, and the things of
the world; during which time I kept up such a
measure of conformity to the customs of my religion
as I considered respectable and consistent; but my
early convictions and impressions were faded and
forgotten; and I belonged to that class whom the
Psalmist designates 'men of the world, which have
their portion in this life.'
"In process of time the Lord laid His afflicting hand
upon me. The death of my beloved mother, whose
tenderness to me I remember to this day with the
deepest gratitude and affection, was a heavy stroke
to me, and plunged me into the utmost grief. I was
then visited with sickness, and my conscience became
much disturbed. What I then endured can only be
expressed in the language of the sixth Psalm. I
solemnly vowed to become very religious; I resolved
to fast one day in every week, to repeat many prayers,
and show kindness and charity to the poor. But this
could not pacify my guilty conscience, as the study
of German literature had weakened my confidence in
religious observances,—had driven me from my own
religion, and given me nothing in its place. One day
I was in acute distress of mind, feeling, as David
expresses it, that I had sunk 'in deep mire, where
there is no standing'; that all my own efforts to free
myself were of no avail, my struggles only made me
sink deeper and deeper. For the first time in my life
I prayed extempore. I cried out, 'O God! I have
no one to help me, and I dare not approach Thee, for
I am guilty; help, O help me, for the sake of my
father Abraham, who was willing to offer up his son
Isaac, have mercy upon me, and impute his righteousness
unto me.' But there was no answer from God,—no
peace to my wounded spirit. I felt as if God had
forsaken me; as if the Lord had cast me off for ever,
and would be favourable no more. I fully understood
the words of the Psalmist, 'Mine iniquities have taken
hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they
are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my
heart faileth me' (Psalm xl. 12); and I felt that
all my devotional exercises were what the prophet
Isaiah was instructed to declare the sacrifices and
offerings of the Jews in his days to be,—vain oblations,
an abomination in the sight of God.
"I was far from my home and relatives; and my gay
companions, seeing I was depressed in spirits, though
ignorant of the real cause of this depression, earnestly
urged me to frequent the theatres, and other public
amusements, to cheer my mind. At first this partially
succeeded; but the merciful kindness of God left me
not thus to my own devices, but graciously interposed,
and again roused me to seek after more solid happiness.
"God, in his tender mercy, had again disturbed and
disquieted my conscience so much, that I fully realised
the words of the Psalmist, 'I am troubled, I am bowed
down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, for my
loins are filled with a loathsome disease, and there is
no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore
broken; I have roared by reason of the disquietness
of my heart' (Psalm xxxviii. 6-8). I had no peace
nor rest; but wherever I went, or however I was
employed, I carried about with me a sense of misery
that was intolerable. I could say with Job, 'The
arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison
whereof drinketh up my spirit' (Job vi. 4).
"One morning I went to purchase an article in a
shop, little knowing that God had there stored up for
me the 'pearl of great price,' which He was about to
give me 'without money and without price.' The
article I purchased was wrapped up in a leaf of the
Bible, which contained a portion of the Sermon on the
Mount. The shopkeeper was, probably, an infidel,
who thought the Bible merely waste paper; but God
over-ruled the evil for good. As I was walking home
my eyes glanced on the words: 'Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted.' This arrested
my attention, and I read the whole passage with deep
interest.
"'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their's is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they
shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for
their's is the kingdom of heaven.' (St. Matthew v. 3-10.)
"I was much struck with the sentiments contained
in this passage, and felt very desirous to see the book
of which it was a portion; I had no idea what book it
was, never having seen a New Testament. A few
days after, God directed my footsteps to the house
of an acquaintance, on whose table lay a copy of the
New Testament. Impelled by curiosity I took it up,
and in turning over the leaves beheld the very passage
that had interested me so much. I immediately
borrowed it, and began to read it with great avidity.
At first I felt quite bewildered, and was so shocked by
the constant recurrence of the name of Jesus, that I
repeatedly cast the book away. At length I determined
to read it through. When I came to the twenty-third
chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, I was astonished
at the full disclosure of the nature of Pharisaism,
contained in it; and Christ's lamentation over Jerusalem,
in the concluding part: 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!'
affected me even to tears. In reading the account
of the crucifixion, the meekness and love of Jesus
of Nazareth astonished me; and the cruel hatred
manifested against Him by the priests and rulers in
Israel, excited within me a feeling of compassion for
Him, and of indignation against His murderers. But
I did not as yet see any connexion between the
sufferings of Jesus and my sins."
In 1828 he entered the Operative Jewish Converts'
Institution, which was under the superintendence of
Erasmus Simon, and was baptized April 14, 1830,
when he took the name of his godfather, Rev. Henry
Calbone Ridley. Owing to some scruples, he preferred
to enter the nonconformist ministry, in which he also
zealously laboured for the spiritual welfare of his
brethren. He was one of the founders of the British
Society. Among his converts was Dr. A. Fürst, a very
able missionary of that Society. Ridley Herschell
edited a periodical under the title, "Voice of Israel."
He wrote also an account of his journey to his home,
"A Visit to my Fatherland"; "Reasons why I am
not a Roman Catholic." With the assistance of Sir
Culling Eardley he built Trinity Chapel, Regent
Street, where he was, one might say, a father to the
converts in London in 1845-6, and they reciprocated
his love by sixty of them presenting him with a polyglot
Bible, in eight languages, in 1845.
Herschell, Rev. David Abraham, a brother of the
above, a very saintly man, baptized in Basel, 1845,
was first his assistant at Trinity Chapel and afterwards,
nearly all his life, minister of the Congregational
Church, Loughborough Park, Brixton.
Herschell, Rev. Louis, another brother, laboured
for many years as missionary and deputation of the
British Society, and was a minister at Ware, and later
at Peckham Rye, London. He died in 1890.
Herschell, Rev. Victor, another brother, emigrated
to the United States, was baptized in the Seventh
Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and was ordained
to the ministry there.
The son of the fourth brother, who remained
in Judaism till late in life, embraced Christianity
in Germany.
Herschel, Sir William, English astronomer, born at
Hanover, November 15, 1738, died at Slough, August
22, 1822. His father, Abraham, brought him up as a
musician, and in that capacity he went to England
in 1755, in the band of the Hanoverian guards, and
for a considerable time earned his living as a teacher
of music, obtaining a position as organist in
Bath, in 1760. This seems to show, in all probability,
that either he was baptized during this
interval of five years in England, or that he was
baptized in Germany. For as a professing Jew
he would scarcely have ventured at that time to
apply for the position of an organist, neither would
his services have been accepted. He is known
as the founder of Sidereal Science. His views
on the position of the Solar System, in relation to
the Milky Way, still form the central factor in
the modern theory as to the constitution of the
universe. He is also known as the discoverer of
the infra-red solar rays.
Hershon, Paul Isaac, was born in Buczacz (Galicia)
in 1818, where he received an excellent Hebrew and
Talmudical education. Going to Jerusalem he came
under the influence of Nicolayson, and was baptized
by him. He then studied in the Jerusalem Missionary
College from 1842 to 1846. Afterwards he was
appointed principal of the House of Industry, and
then from 1848-55 he laboured as missionary in
England. Then he was appointed as head of the
model farm at Jaffa, which office he resigned on
account of illness in 1869, and returned to England.
Henceforth he devoted himself to literary work, and
wrote "Extracts from the Talmud," 1860; "The
Pentateuch according to the Talmud," Hebrew, 1874;
"A Talmudical Miscellany," 1880; "Treasures of the
Talmud," 1882. He died in London, 1888.
Hertz, Henrik, Danish poet, born at Copenhagen,
August 25, 1798; died there February 25, 1870. He
embraced Christianity in 1832. His dramatic works
alone comprise eighteen volumes and were published
in 1854-73.
Heynemann. From this family in Saxony, whose
head was Court Commissioner, no less than nine
persons embraced the Protestant faith about 1749.
Hieronomy, David, baptized with his wife and six
children in 1676, was nominated by the King Friedrich
of Prussia as Inspector of the Synagogue. He had
to suffer martyrdom.
Hirsch, Rev. David Jacoby, was born in 1820 at
Sandersleben, in the Duchy of Anhalt. His parents
were strict Jews. He received his early education at
a school in Dessau. When he was a young man he
came over to England, and in 1844 got to know the
late Dr. Marsh, who first spoke to him of Christ.
This led him to study the Word of God, and to enquire
how he, a sinner, could be saved. Subsequently, Dr.
Baylee, of Birkenhead, took a great interest in him, as
he taught his boys German, French, Latin, and
Hebrew. From him he received instruction in the
Christian faith, and at the end of 1845 was baptized
by him, and married his daughter. Later on he was
ordained by Bishop Sumner for the German pastorhood
at Liverpool, a post he filled until 1852, when he
added to his pastoral duties missionary work among
the Jews, receiving a grant from the Society for twelve
years. He then retired until his death, in 1898, greatly
missed by all who knew him.
Hirsch, Paul Wilhelm, was baptized in 1692, taught
Hebrew, and issued a pamphlet in Berlin, 1717,
under the title "Entdeckung der Tekuphath," in
which he exposes the superstition held by rabbinic
Jews, and then published in the calendar, that at the
entrance of each of the four seasons of the year the
fluid of the vessels containing water is turned into blood.
This superstition has probably done them much harm.
Hirsch, Siegfried, born in 1816, studied history
under the celebrated historian Ranke. Through the
influence of Neander he became a devoted Christian.
In 1844 he was appointed professor of history in the
University of Berlin, where he was esteemed and
beloved by the students. He was one of the founders
of the conservative paper "Kreuz Zeitung." He died
in 1860.
Hirsch, Theodor, born 1806 in Altschottland, near
Danzig, embraced Christianity through the influence
of Schleiermacher. He too became professor of
history, first at Danzig, and later, in 1865, at
Greifswald. In spite of his great learning, it is recorded
that he was a very quiet and humble man. He died
in 1881.
Hoga, Stanislaus, a native of Casimir, Russia, was,
after embracing Christianity, a missionary of L.J.S.
in London. He was mostly engaged in literary work,
and translated "Songs of Zion," a selection of English
and German Hymns, into Hebrew (1834—with additions,
1842); a translation of McCaul's "Old Paths"
into Hebrew; "Nethivoth Olam," 1851; a Hebrew
grammar of the English language, 1840; "The
Controversy of Zion," a meditation on Judaism and
Christianity, 1845; "Halichoth Orah," which is a
translation of Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress"; "Eldad
and Medad," which is a dialogue contrasting the New
Testament and the Talmud; "Malakh Haberith," a
translation of the tract "Angel of the Covenant." He
also, together with Reichardt, revised the old edition
of the Hebrew New Testament.
Iliewitz, Alexander, a medical missionary long
connected with the Society's work in Jerusalem. It
would not be easy to mention a missionary who,
throughout a long career of labour, had shown more
loving sympathy for his brethren, or more patience
and self-denial in labouring for their good, than he
did. He was not a theologian, or a Talmudical
scholar, and was not fitted for carrying on learned
disputations with highly educated Jews. But he had
a simple, trustful faith, which made him never tired of
proclaiming the way of salvation. A learned rabbi,
widely celebrated for his profound knowledge of the
Cabbala, complained that he had dared to preach Christ
to him. "I did not send for him," said the rabbi
indignantly, "to tell me that the Messiah has come.
I sent for him to prescribe for my bad feet." He
was in a special way the friend and helper of the
poor and unlearned. He used to tell a sad story
about a young Jew of this kind who died of cholera in
1865. When dying, this poor lad whispered to Mr.
Iliewitz as he stood by his bedside, "You have often
told me to 'kiss the Son lest He be angry.' He is
angry! He is angry!" and so passed away.
His early life was one of continuous trial and
struggle. His father died before he was born. At
an early age he left home and became apprentice in
a surgeon's shop at Berditcheff, where he remained
three years. He then removed to Odessa, and
afterwards to Galicia, where he stayed eight years
with a surgeon. He entered the college at Lemberg,
passed the examinations, and received his medical
diplomas.
The crisis of his life was now approaching. He
was taken ill, and this made him think about his soul.
"I knew the Almighty God," he wrote at a subsequent
period, "only from nature. I saw how gracious and
merciful He was towards me, and therefore I lifted up
my hands and eyes to Him, and prayed in my
ignorance: O Lord, Thou hast made me so that I
could learn many scientific and useful things, grant
me now also opportunity to be better informed of Thy
Holy Name. In this also the Shepherd of Israel heard
me." After his recovery he removed to Pesth, where
he met missionaries; he was taught the way of
salvation. In 1845 he was baptized, and in 1856 he was
sent to Bucharest. Two years later he was transferred
to Jerusalem as assistant medical missionary, in which
capacity he laboured until within a year or two of his
death. He passed away on June, 1895, aged 80.
Many will rise hereafter and call him blessed, having
received the first seeds of eternal life through him.
Immanuel, Siegmund (Salomon Jacob), born in
Hamburg, 1792, died at Minden, 1847. Seeking for
true religion, he found it in the Gospel, and embraced
Christianity in 1809. When still a student at the
Gymnasium of Altona he wrote a treatise entitled,
"Animadversiones ad Coluthe carmen de rapta
Helena cum specimine Versionis Germanicæ." He
then studied theology at Helmstadt, Göttingen and
Leipzig till 1813. After being a private teacher at the
house of the Russian General Berdiageff he, in 1814,
became state teacher at Hirschberg, in Silesia, and in
1821 was appointed Principal of the Gymnasium at
Minden, which position he held until his death. He
was the first principal to introduce gymnastics into the
school curriculum (1831), and to divide the Gymnasium
into departments of arts and sciences (1840). Among
Immanuel's works may be mentioned: "Die Anfänge
der Reformation und die Gründung des Gymnasium
in Minden" (Minden, 1822), "Declamation Unterricht
auf Schulen" (ib. 1824), "Historischer Unterricht auf
Gymnasium" (ib. 1827), "Gutachten über Herrn
Lorinser's Schrift zum Schutze der Gesundheit auf
Schulen" (Bieldfeld, 1836).
Isaacs, Rev. Albert Augustus. The cause of
missions to Jews possessed a very intelligent and
warm-hearted advocate in the Rev. Albert Augustus
Isaacs, who was himself, as his name indicates, of
Jewish parentage, and who throughout his long life,
identified himself with every movement for the
welfare of his brethren according to the flesh.
Mr. Isaacs was born in the island of Jamaica, on
January 24th, 1826, at Berry Hill, a coffee plantation,
of which his father was the owner. Jamaica was at
that time one of the most prosperous colonies of
Great Britain. His father, Isaac Isaacs, had become
a convert to Christianity some years previously. We
have no authentic particulars of his father's life,
although we have an idea that in the story of "The
Star of Peace," by "Ben Abram," which ran through
the first two volumes of "The Everlasting Nation,"
the adventures of Isaac Da Costa, in Jamaica and in
England, were those of his own father.
Albert was his second son, and was sent to England
for his education, which was received at Maze Hill,
Greenwich, under Dr. Smithers. The religious instruction
in the school, and preparation for confirmation,
though slight in themselves, led him to serious
reflection, and were the means of deciding him to
give his heart to Christ at the age of fourteen, and they
influenced his future career. When he left school
Albert returned to Jamaica for four years, at the
expiration of which time, on the recommendation of
Canon Carus, he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,
being a contemporary of one who afterwards
became master, Dr. Perowne, and of Bishop Moule, of
Mid-China. Young Isaacs' residence at Cambridge was
marked by a strict adherence to his collegiate studies,
which he commenced daily at five o'clock in the
morning. His religious life was very fruitful, he being
a teacher in the Jesus Lane Sunday School, the founder
of the Cambridge University Prayer Union, and the
organizer in his college of successful efforts on behalf
of the Bible Society and the Church Missionary
Society. He himself ardently desired to become a
missionary, his sympathies being especially drawn
towards East Africa. The door, however, was not
open in that direction, and so after taking his
degree in 1850, he was ordained in the same
year by Dr. Davys, Bishop of Peterborough, and
licensed to the curacy of the parish church in that
city, of which the Bishop's son, a well known
evangelical of those days, was the vicar. If our
supposition about "Ben Abram's" story is true, the
following information from the last chapter but one
of the "Star of Peace" is interesting. We read there
that Isaac Da Costa (his father) had so arranged his
movements as to be present on an occasion of great
interest to himself and others, and with no little
pleasure was looking forward to the opportunity of
witnessing his son's ordination. He had been unable
to say what might be the day of his arrival, as the
voyage from Jamaica to New York was made at
irregular intervals, and it would appear that he arrived
too late to witness that rite, for we read, "All was
silent as the night in the little cathedral town in which
Da Costa's son had begun his ministerial work. It
was late when the last train arrived from the west,
and a cab containing the father drove to the lodgings
of the son. The sound of a bell vibrated upon the
ears of those who were slumbering; but it was not so
loud as to arouse them to consciousness. But early in
the morning a messenger arrived from the chief hotel
to announce the arrival of Mr. Da Costa. Telegrams
were not so far available in those days as to enable
him to communicate the fact of his arrival. It was
Saturday night, and Da Costa had calculated on the
enjoyment of the services of the Lord's Day amidst
the scenes of his son's labours. As these consisted of
four separate services—in whole or in part—he had
the evidence that his lot was not cast in idle, although
it was in pleasant, places."
Mr. Isaacs remained in the curacy at Peterborough
for two years, discharging his ministerial duties with
zeal and ability. In 1852 he became an association
secretary of the L.J.S., having charge of the
counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincoln. The
following year he was appointed assistant clerical and
association secretary for the north metropolitan
district. Mr. Isaacs had married the eldest daughter
of the Rev. J. M. Johnson, rector of Scoulton, Norfolk,
and a niece of Lord Berners. She was a remarkably
clever linguist and a student of Hebrew. She died
in 1856, after a very brief married life. After her
death Mr. Isaacs visited Palestine in the winter of
1856-7, and found the particulars gleaned during that
visit of much subsequent use in his advocacy of the
cause. He gathered the materials for subsequent
books, took numerous views of the country, and
bought a property near Jaffa called "The Model Farm,"
which, under an edict of the Sublime Porte, was
made over to him as a British subject. He visited
Palestine again in 1869, and was a traveller also in
various parts of the world.
Mr. Isaacs married, secondly, in 1861, the eldest
daughter of the Rev. S. H. Causton, Vicar of
Highgate, and a niece of Lord Lilford, who died in
1866, leaving two children, Miss Annie Isaacs and
the Rev. Wilfrid Henry Isaacs. Thirty years later,
in 1896, Mr. Isaacs married Mrs. Peppin, the widow
of Surgeon-Major Peppin, and daughter of James
Herdman, Esq., of Zion House, co. Tyrone, Ireland,
who survived him.
Mr. Isaacs was Jubilee Secretary for the L.J.S.
during the year commencing February 15, 1858, and
ending on the same date in 1859, which post entailed
upon him much additional labour, to which he always
looked back with considerable pleasure. He resigned
his secretaryship in July, 1859, having served the
Society with great acceptance for nearly seven
years.
Mr. Isaacs now went to Jamaica on a short visit to
his family, and improved the occasion by giving
lectures, which were attended by crowds, in order to
stir up an interest in the Holy Land. He had given
a very great deal of attention to photography, a
difficult pursuit for the amateur in those days, and
was the first to introduce it into his native country.
On his return to England, he occupied successively posts
at Laura Chapel, Bath; in London; at Hanford, in
Staffordshire; and at the Priory Church, Malvern.
In 1866, he was appointed by Lord Berners, vicar
of Christ Church, Leicester, in his old diocese of
Peterborough, where for more than 25 years he
laboured in season and out of season, carrying on his
ministry on staunch Protestant and evangelical lines,
and being surrounded by a large band of fellow-workers,
who heartily appreciated his teaching and
work. The parish was thoroughly re-organized;
numerous useful agencies started; the church restored
and its accommodation increased; schools and other
buildings erected. Mr. Isaacs was known as "the
Jew of Leicester," and continued his great interest in
all efforts for the conversion of his brethren to
Christianity. He also rendered much and conspicuous
voluntary aid to other Societies, notably the Church
Missionary Society, the Church Pastoral Aid Society,
and the Church Association, as well as to all local
institutions and enterprises.
Mr. Isaacs took great interest in elementary education,
and was returned at the head of the poll, by a
majority of nearly 4,000 votes over the second
candidate, at the first School Board election in
Leicester. He also greatly interested himself in, and
was successful in raising the tone of the Police Force,
the members of which most thoroughly enjoyed the
winter and summer treats which he arranged for them.
Mr. Isaacs was also chaplain of the Leicester gaol,
a work in which he took the keenest interest, and
where he was the means of leading many a sin-stricken
soul to the Saviour of sinners; and reforming the
lives of those who had been led astray principally
through strong drink. The work at Leicester was
thus of a very arduous character. Notwithstanding
the poverty of his parish, Mr. Isaacs raised as much
as £25,000 for various objects during his incumbency.
His whole ministry eloquently testified to the power
of a simple and faithfully proclaimed Gospel.
In 1891 Mr. Isaacs was appointed to the incumbency
of St. Augustine's, Bath, or, as it had long been
known, Portland Chapel, which position he held till
1899. It was a post after his own heart, with its
associations and traditions handed down from a long
succession of faithful Protestant ministers. For a
short time he was in charge of Eaton Chapel, in
London. Mr. Isaacs frequently took chaplaincies on
the continent, especially in Holland and Germany, and
in 1902 he became resident English chaplain to
Christ Church, Düsseldorf, and ministered to the
congregation there up to the day of his death, on
Sunday, November 15, 1903.
His home-call was very sudden, and found him in
full work, just as he would have desired. He had no
previous illness.
The funeral took place on Thursday morning,
November 19, at the beautiful Friedhof cemetery at
Düsseldorf, where he rests. Amongst the company
present were Mr. Mulvany, the British Consul, with
Mrs. and Miss Mulvany, and about 120 other friends,
mostly attendants at the Consulate Chapel. The
memorial sermons were preached on the following
Sunday in the Consulate Chapel by the Rev. T. H.
Sparshott. When Mr. Isaacs went there the congregation
numbered only about thirteen persons. He
soon gathered round him, however, an attached
people, upon whose affections he obtained a strong
hold, and his ministry was very gratefully welcomed.
Not only did he increase the attendance at the
Sunday services till an excellent congregation was
built up, but on Thursday afternoons, at his own
residence, he held Bible readings and social gatherings,
which were warmly appreciated by a large number
of young men and women. Those who understand
the intense loneliness of British residents in a
continental city, especially one somewhat off the
beaten route of tourists, will readily comprehend how
much such kind hospitality and friendly intercourse
must have meant to strangers in a strange land.
Mr. Isaacs' travels familiarized him with Palestine,
and he wrote "The Dead Sea" (1857); and "A
Pictorial Tour in the Holy Land" (1858). He was
also the author of the well-known "Biography of the
Rev. Henry Aaron Stern, D.D." (1886); and the
editor of four volumes of "The Everlasting Nation"
(1889-92). Amongst his other publications may be
mentioned "Emma Herdman, Missionary Labours in
the Empire of Morocco" (1900); "The Fountain of
Siena, an Episode in the Life of John Ruskin" (1900);
"In the Lord," a series of articles, published in the
"English Churchman" (1901); a series of articles
entitled "The Tabernacle and the Temple," published
in the "Protestant Alliance" magazine (1902);
followed by a second series in the same magazine,
(1903), entitled "The Protestants of the
Bible"; and "The New Vicar" (1903), published
posthumously.
Besides his literary gifts, Mr. Isaacs possessed
considerable gifts and talents in art and in music, being
a keen judge of both. He had some knowledge of
colloquial French, Italian, and German, and not long
before his death gave a short address in German at a
mission hall on "I am the way, the truth and the life,"
which was listened to with marked attention. He had
promised to give a second address on the Wednesday
which followed his death.
Mr. Isaacs was a man of keen intellect, marked
ability, deeply taught by the Spirit of God, and a
faithful servant of Christ during his long ministerial
career of fifty-three years. His Jewish descent, his
acquaintance with the language and customs of the
Jews, his sympathy with them and zeal for their
conversion made him a strong and an acceptable
advocate in the cause of Jewish missions. He
was a Life Member of the L.J.S., and frequently
attended the meetings of the Committee, where his
long and varied experience, and prudent counsels
were fully appreciated.
It will be easily gathered from the above that Mr.
Isaacs' life was extremely rich in incident and
experience. He was blessed with wonderful strength
and health, which he attributed greatly to total abstinence
from alcohol and smoking, and enjoyed
the friendship of many prominent people, amongst
whom may be mentioned Prince Münster.
Mr. Isaacs in his own person was a proof of the
success of Jewish evangelization, and of its far-reaching
consequences, and we would close this brief biography
of our departed friend with the last words from his
"Star of Peace":—
"When Isaac Da Costa arranged for the baptism of
his children he was, in the providence of God, opening
the floodgates of blessing for himself and family.
The consequences were to be widespread as well as
important. Up to that time, not one of his family in
any of its branches had ever been brought out of
Judaism into the full revelation in Christ of the Law
and the Prophets. But when he closed his eyes, he
left behind him the record of every member of his
family but one, both on his own and on his wife's side,
having embraced the Christian faith, and thus set
their seal to the truth and inspiration of God's Holy
Word."
Jacob, John, a Jew from Poland, was baptized in
England, in the seventeenth century. In 1679 he
wrote a tract under the title, "The Jew turned Christian,
or The Corner Stone," which was translated into
Dutch and published in Amsterdam, under the title,
"Jesus de waare Hoeckstein." In this he magnifies
the grace of God as manifested in and through Christ
Jesus, by which alone fallen man can find acceptance
in God's sight and realize perfect peace and salvation.
Jacobi, B. T., was born in Königsberg, 1807. His
father went to England, and became a Christian
there. During his absence his wife, not knowing at
all about her husband's religious change, embraced
Christianity, and was baptized with her four children.
Jacobi studied theology, and was appointed Chaplain,
at the George Hospital, Königsberg, having also the
pastoral charge of the Workhouse, and giving
religious instruction in a High School. From 1858 he
was also acting as missionary of the British Society,
and quite a number of Jews of the higher class were
won by him for the Saviour. He was permitted to
celebrate his ministerial Jubilee in 1877.
Jacobi, Karl Gustav Jakob, born at Potsdam, 1804,
died at Berlin, 1851. He was a distinguished
Professor of Mathematics at the University of
Königsberg and Berlin from 1825, and, together with
Abel, made his epoch-making discoveries in the field
of elliptic functions. Most of Jacobi's papers were
published in Crelle's Journal, "Für die Reine und
Angewardte Mathematik," and in the "Monatsberichte"
of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, of which he
became a member in 1836. Of his independent
works may be mentioned: "Fundamenta Novæ
Theoriæ Functiones Ellipticorum," Königsberg, 1829;
and "Canon Arithmeticus," Berlin, 1839. Jacobi's
lectures on dynamics were published in Berlin in
1866 and 1884. The Berlin Academy of Sciences
published his "Gesammelte Werke," 8 vols., 1881-91.
Jacobi, Heinrich Otto, born at Tutz, West Prussia, and
educated in a Jewish school in Berlin. He was baptized
by Pastor Hossbach. After teaching in several schools,
he became Professor of Greek Philology at the Fried.
Wilh. Gymnasium of Berlin in 1860. He wrote
several treatises in the Greek language, and received
the degree of D.Ph. from the University of Königsberg,
even without passing an examination. He died
in 1864.
Jacobsohn, S. S., born in German Ostrowo, 1810.
He went to Berlin and studied painting in the
Academy of Arts. After being an earnest enquirer
for a year, he was baptized by Pastor Kunze in 1831.
Two years later he entered the service of the Berlin
Jewish Society, and laboured among the Jews until
1871, with great patience and love toward them, so
that many acknowledged that he was a true Christian.
He published a tract entitled, "Immanuel, die
Erscheinung des Messias in Knechtsgestalt, seine
Erlösungsthätigkeit und die Ausbreitung seines
Reiches nach Jesaia" (Berlin).
Jacobson, Heinrich Friedrich, born in Morenwerder,
1804, died in 1868, as a true pious Christian, lamented
by all who knew him. He became Ordinary
Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of
Königsberg in 1836. He was author, among other
works, of "Geschichte der Quellen des Katholischen
Kirchenrechts der Provinzen Preusen und Posen,"
(1839); likewise "Geschichte der Quellen des evangelischen
Kirchenrechts," of the same provinces,
(1844). His chief work was, "Das Evangelische
Kirchenrecht des Preusischen Staates und seiner
Provinzen," (Halle, 1862-66).
Jacobson, Jacob, was born at Goldingen, in the
province of Courland, Russia. He tells his own
story thus:—
"My parents early taught me to value the precepts,
rites, and ordinances of Judaism, which they most
rigidly observed. They therefore early placed me
under the care of a Talmudical tutor, to be instructed
in the Jewish faith, which consisted in the religious observances
established by the authority of the Rabbis,
and the promised reward to those who adhere to them.
"As I grew older, and began to reflect upon the
nature and principles of Judaism as practised in the
synagogue, my understanding showed me that such
formal worship could not be in accordance with the
will of God, that something or other was deficient in
the system, there being nothing solid to influence the
heart and give vitality to the worshipper. I could
not help experiencing at times something like a
vagueness in my mind with regard to my religious
perceptions.
"By the providence of God I was led to leave
home; and, although it was contrary to the wishes of
my parents, I set out on my journey, and in due course
arrived in England, in the City of London. After
my sojourn there for some time, I was incidentally
brought into contact, for the first time in my life,
with one of those messengers who are sent out by
the British Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel among the Jews, whose work is to disseminate
the Word of Life. It was by him that
the Gospel was, in the first instance, proclaimed in
my ears. Though some impression was made on my
mind in consequence of his preaching, I nevertheless
resisted it, on account of the deep-rooted prejudice
I had imbibed against the Christian religion, and I
refused his kind invitation to go to his house.
"God, who guides the destiny of men in a most
marvellous way did, by His gracious design, cause
me again to meet the same missionary, who once
more entreated me to accept Jesus as the Messiah,
and to search into the truth of the Christian religion.
As on the former occasion, I again resisted with
increased strength, and again declined his kind
invitation. Still, the impression which was left on
my mind on this second occasion, led me to reflect
upon the question at issue between Jews and Christians,
and whether this Jesus, whom our forefathers
had rejected, was the same who should redeem Israel.
Thus I was for some time perplexed and undecided,
and in my perplexity I at length resolved that I
would go to the missionary's house, not with any
desire to be converted, but simply for further
information.
"I thus became directed to read the Word of God,
in order to verify the predictions which refer to the
Messiah, and their fulfilment in the Person of Jesus
Christ. I then began to read the New Testament,
and to compare this with the Old, and, in course of
time, the doing so terminated in my conviction
that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, who gave Himself
a sacrifice for sin, and was cut off but not for
Himself. After some inward struggle of mind, my
agitated feelings may be better conceived than
described, and in spite of all hindrances that presented
themselves, I was enabled, by the grace of God and
the enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit to
decide for Christ, and He became my Lord and
Saviour. I avowed myself by public baptism a
believer in the Triune God.
"After some years of Christian life, I was called
to the service of God, in making known the same
Saviour and the same Gospel I had received to our
benighted Jewish brethren, and, by the grace of God,
I have been engaged in so doing for fifteen years, in
Newcastle and the district. The Lord has graciously
blessed my humble efforts, and unto Him I ascribe
the glory."
Jacoby, Dr. Ludwig, was the founder of German
Methodism at St. Louis, Mi., U.S.A., and helped to
spread it in Germany, in the latter half of the 19th
century. His biography is found in the Rev. Fr. Kopp's
characteristic pictures from the history of Methodism.
Jacoby, Rev., was one of Dr. McCaul's converts in
Warsaw, and missionary of the Protestant Episcopal
Church to the Jews in New York. He became later
on an earnest Army Chaplain in a small-pox hospital
during the Civil War, in Washington, 1864.
Jaffe, Philipp, M.D. and historian, born at Schwersenz,
Posen, 1819, studied under Ranke in Berlin,
where he won the history prize. He published "Monumenta
Germaniæ Historica," 1854-63; "Bibliotheca
rerum Germanicarum," 1864; "Regesta pontificum
Rom. a Condita Ecclesia ad Annum post Chr. 1198";
in which work no less than 11,000 papal documents and
letters were investigated, and in consequence received
the attention of Pius IX. These ecclesiastical studies
led him finally to embrace Christianity in 1868.
Jaffe, Philipp, son of Rabbi Baer of Gnesen, Posen,
was born in 1824. Naturally he was brought up in
strict orthodoxy and early imbibed prejudices against
Christianity, so that when reading a book in the
school he refused to utter the name of Jesus. His
father sent him later to Wales to learn commerce at
the house of a relative. Then a Christian lady gave
him a New Testament which he secretly read, and
that became the means of his conversion. He studied
in London, and at the age of twenty-six he was
ordained in the presence of the then Secretary
of the British Society, whose service he afterwards
entered and laboured as a missionary in Bristol
and in Birmingham; and then from 1853 till 1857 at
Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Nüremberg and Hamburg.
He was instrumental in the conversion of a number of
Jews, among whom was a Jewess 83 years of age, and
also in the conversion of a Roman Catholic priest.
Jair and Jan, Dr. Aga, two Persian Jews, the latter of
whom especially was under the influence of the C.M.S.
missionary, the Rev. Dr. Bruce. They were baptized by
the Armenian Protestant pastor in Hamadan in 1878.
Janasz, Adolf, proprietor of an estate at Ploch,
near Warsaw, having together with his father embraced
Christianity, and then afterwards married the daughter
of the L.J.S. missionary Rosenthal, henceforth devoted
himself to good works and especially to promote
Christianity among the Jews by word and deed. In
1863, after the Polish revolution, he founded an
orphanage on his estate, which he maintained at his
own expense. He also appointed a Bible-woman in
Warsaw to visit the Jews, and always showed sympathy
and rendered practical help to the missionaries, and
sent from time to time considerable contributions to
the L.J.S. He published a little excellent work in
German, entitled "Die Zukunft des Volkes Israel,"
Berlin, 1882.
Jany, a Jewish officer who served in the Prussian
army from 1806 to 1815, afterwards embraced
Christianity, and then devoted himself especially, till
the age of 90, to the care of the deaf and dumb, and
was one of the presidents of the Deaf and Dumb
Institution at Königsberg.
Jasu, was one of the three Falasha converts who
carried on the work of the mission during the imprisonment
of the missionaries in Abyssinia.
Jedida, Hirsch Leib, Smlinsky, born in Gragewo,
Russia, 1847. After being strictly brought up and
becoming Bar Mitzvah (confirmed) at the age of 13,
he studied at several rabbinic schools for five years,
and at last at Plotzk, where he formed a firm friendship
with another Bachur (student), by the name of
Samuel Nasielsky, a native of Warsaw. They both
thirsted for knowledge and studied diligently. The
other had one day to return home, on account of the
illness of his mother, and Hirsch soon followed him.
In Warsaw they came in contact with the missionary
Ifland, who showed them another source of knowledge
besides the Talmud, and which alone could satisfy
not only their minds but also their souls. Having
read the New Testament, they were convinced that
Jesus was their Saviour. They resolved now to go to
Germany together. Before doing so they met with a
monk, who tried to win them for the Church of Rome
and as they were not able to answer all his objections
to Protestantism, the result was, that they read the
New Testament more diligently and earnestly. Hirsch
was further instructed by Ifland, and was baptized in
the Reformed Church at Warsaw, by Superintendent
Splasczynsky in 1864, when he received the name of
Jedida (beloved of the Lord). His fervent prayer
before his baptism is recorded, but it is too long to
reproduce here. His friend, who had hitherto been
hindered by his family, now joined him, and they
travelled together to Bromberg, where they were
welcomed by the missionary Koppel into his home
at Salem. His parents came to fetch him home, but
he returned. Here Samuel was also further instructed,
but as Jedida got ill, he was sent to the Hospital
Bethany at Berlin, and he followed him there, where
he was baptized in 1866, and received the name of
Luria, and very often visited his sick friend, to whom
he was attached, like David to Jonathan. But Jedida's
earthly pilgrimage now drew to a close, yet, before
his departure, he composed a Hebrew prayer as
follows:—"O Lord! watch over my bed when my
end draws near and my soul departeth. Stretch
Thou forth Thy hands to receive and to bring it into
Thy habitations. Place me among the heirs of Thy
kingdom. Satisfy me with Thy comfort and salvation.
Make me to rejoice in the light of Thy countenance,
that I may ever live with Thee. Amen." The Lord
answered his prayer and gave him grace and strength
to endure excruciating bodily pains calmly and
resignedly, and took him to Himself in September,
1867. His friend followed him three years later and
was buried at his side.
Jertes, Dr., known to the Rev. F. W. Becker,
laboured with great blessing as a missionary at
Frankfort-on-Main in 1838.
Jesaia, Paul, an educated Jew of Prague, after
showing an inclination towards Christianity at home,
went to London on business about the middle of the
seventeenth century, where he came in contact with
true Christians. The Jews being then few in number
in the city, intercourse between them and Christians
frequently took place on very friendly terms. In
Bohemia there arose a false Messiah who deceived the
people. On his way to London, a Jesuit at Antwerp
tried to convert him to Roman Catholicism. All this
contributed to his searching for the truth, and when
he found it in the English Church, he at once joined
it by baptism. Then he wrote a treatise under the
title, "A Vindication of the Christian's Messiah,"
London, 1654. (Wolff, Bib. Heb. 4. N. 1811. d.)
Joachim, Joseph, born in Kittsee, Hungary, 1831, is
known to have embraced Christianity. He became a
famous musician on the violin, and founded a high
school for music at Berlin in 1867.
Joachimsthal, born in Goldberg, 1818, was baptized
by Pastor Schultz in Berlin, 1842. He became
eventually Professor of Mathematics in Berlin and
in Halle. He died in 1861.
John, Evangelist, was one of those Jews baptized at
Constantinople about 1827-8, in the time of Wolff,
when they were put in prison and bastinadoed.
Jolberg, Madam Regine Julie (née Zimmerman),
was born at Frankfort-on-Main in 1801. Her father was
a wealthy man, and sent her at the age of thirteen to
a Christian school at Heidelberg, where she received
good impressions. In 1821 she married a Jewish
lawyer, named Dr. Neustetel, and they settled at
Hanau. There the seed sown in her heart at school
began to spring forth, her husband too was influenced
by her and by an evangelical pastor who visited him
in his sickness, and he wished to be baptized, but
died before he could realise his wish. She gave him
a Christian burial. Subsequently, in 1826, she was
baptized with her children, and married her former
teacher, S. Jolberg. Her second husband died three
years later, and soon after the children she had by
him. Then she went to the village of Berg, near
Stuttgart, in 1831, with the two children of her first
husband, and there her Christian faith was strengthened
and deepened by the circle of Christian friends around
her. In 1841 she took a house at Leutsheim, where
she instructed children in knitting. This school
became later an asylum for poor children. This was
four years after enlarged to admit a branch for the
education of teachers. Six years later, in 1851, she
hired a small castle in Nonnenwier, with garden and
woods, from Baron Bücklin, because she had already
eighty nurses under her instruction and supervision.
This institution prospered and became well known, so
that her example was followed in different parts of
Germany and other countries. After 25 years labour
there were 300 Nonnenwier sisters in Germany and
abroad, and 260 nurses for children. She became
known in Germany as Mutter Jolberg, and rightly so,
for indeed she was a mother in Israel.
Josef, an artist, was baptized in Stockholm, 1832,
through the preaching of the L.J.S. missionary
Moritz.
Joseph, H. S., was precentor in the synagogue at
Bedford, where he heard the Gospel. In 1829 he
resigned his office and went to Norwich, where he
was baptized by the Rev. Samuel Titlow. He wrote
afterwards: "Reasons for Renouncing Judaism and
Embracing Christianity," Norwich, 1830. He studied
theology and was ordained in 1836 as minister or
curate of St. Simon's Chapel, Liverpool. With the
permission of the Bishop of Chester he established a
Hebrew service. It may be mentioned, too, that on
the day of his ordination in Liverpool, six Jewish
souls were baptized by the Rev. H. Stewart, viz.,
Theodor Bernstein, and Joshua George Lazarus with
his wife and three children, and twelve others that
year. In 1837 Joseph became connected with L.J.S.,
from whom he received a grant. He was the first,
as far as we know, to open a home for enquirers, of
which he had the charge for many years.
Josephson, Cornelius, was Flad's companion in
the Gospel in Abyssinia.
Josephson, Karl and Ludwig, two brothers, who
were converted in Westphalia in the first half of the
nineteenth century, and have given to the Church in
Germany quite a number of theologians and pastors.
Josephson, Van Reis, born at Stockholm in 1818,
became a Christian whilst at school. He then studied
at the University of Upsala, and graduated in 1842.
Then he applied himself entirely to music, and became
Director of Music at the University. His compositions
were popular in the north, such as: "Vart land,"
"Rings Drapa," "Islossning." His church compositions
have made him famous, e.g., his "Kyrie," and
his "Quando Corpus."
Joshua, was colporteur in Syria and in Asia Minor
about 1860.
Julius, Henrietta, sister of the physician Nicol
Heinrich Julius, attended the Church of Dr. Routenberg
in Hamburg, which caused her to embrace
Christianity, and was baptized in 1820. Her brother
became a Romanist, but lived with her in harmony.
She wrote a German biography of Elizabeth Fry.
Kahn, David Isaac, a physician at Uhlefeld, called
afterwards "Christfreund," received Christian literature
from the Mission at Halle, and this alone was
the cause of his and his whole family embracing
Christianity at Cadolzburg in 1739. The eldest son
who still hesitated, was baptized afterwards.
Kahn, Rev. J., L.J.S. convert, graduated at
Cambridge. After being curate in various parishes
and then Vicar of Bishopstone, Sussex, he became
Vicar of St. Stephen's, Holloway, in 1884.
Kalkar, Christian Andreas Herman, born November
27th, 1802, at Stockholm, died at Gladsaxe, February
3rd, 1886. He received his early education from his
father, who was a rabbi and a member of the
consistorium, and at the schools of Copenhagen,
where, in 1818, he became a student of law. In 1823
he embraced the evangelical faith and studied theology,
passing his examination in 1826. After being
teacher at Oldensee, from 1827 to 1841, he travelled
in Spain, and was appointed minister at Gladsaxe
and Herloi in 1844. Among Kalkar's many
works may be mentioned—"Evangelische Missionsgeschichte,"
1857; "Geschichte der Römisch-Katholischen
Mission," 1862 (German translation,
Erlangen, 1869); "Geschichte der Christlichen
Mission unter den Heiden," 1877 (German translation,
Gütersloh, 1879); "Die Mission unter den
Juden," 1868 (German translation, Hamburg, 1869);
"Israel og Kerken," Copenhagen, 1881. From 1871
to 1880 Kalkar was editor of the "Theologisk
Tidskrift."
Kaloria, Rev. John B., a native of Jerusalem when
he for the first time heard the Gospel from the L.J.S.
missionaries. After his conversion he studied at Basel,
and was then sent out to Uruguay as pastor and
teacher in a German Colony there. About 1887, he
assisted Mr. Eppstein in London, and then went to
the United States, where he became engaged in
Ministerial work, contributing valuable articles to the
Jewish Missionary periodical at New York, "The
People, the Land and the Book."
Kameras, Rev. Nathanael, missionary in
Vienna, of the British Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel among the Jews. The following
is an abridged extract from his autobiography:—
"On the road leading from Russian Lithuania to
Russian Poland there stands a large and lonely inn.
It was there that I first saw the light of day in the
year 1862. A clay-floored entrance divides the rooms
of this extensive house into two rows; on one side
are the rooms for the strangers, who lodge here
over night, the large tap-room, and the small rooms
belonging to my parents; on the other, a one-windowed
chamber, where our teacher slept, and the hall, a
pretty large room, set apart for prayer and study. It
contained long narrow tables and forms, an ornamented
cupboard on the eastern side, in which the Thora-rollen
(law scrolls) were kept, a prayer-desk with a
seven-branched brass candelabra and a hanging lamp.
The male members of our family, and Jews from the
neighbouring villages, assembled there for Divine
Service, to which the women listened in an adjoining
room. There, too, our teacher instructed my four
brothers and myself in the Hebrew language, and in
the Talmud. As soon as I was five years of age, my
parents, wrapping me up in a Tallith (prayer-mantle),
solemnly brought me in there, in order that I might
receive the necessary instruction; so that from that
moment I devoted myself exclusively to study.
Every other occupation, every other employment,
every recreation, game, or fun of childhood, all that
makes the heart light and the body strong, was
banished from my life. I felt like a bird imprisoned
in a cage, and debarred the free movement of its
limbs; outside, was the world in all its beauty, where
numbers of joyous creatures were flying about in the
full enjoyment of their individual freedom, whilst
I, powerless, clung to the bars. Before my eyes lay
a landscape, rich in rural splendour; as far as I could
see, village after village, surrounded by fruit-laden
trees, presented a most cheerful aspect, and from the
window I could watch the Christian children at their
play, enjoying the fresh air of freedom in the flowering
fields and sprouting meadows. Amidst the songs
of birds, the rustling of leaves and the roar of the
forest, I caught the sound of happy human voices,
whilst I, chained to my books all day and until late
at night, was forced to pore over marriage contracts
and divorces and other similar things, which would
have been better kept from my childish reason. 'Oh,
if I were only that poor farm-servant coming home
from the fields with the tired horses, or that ragged boy
driving his cows home!' Thus I sighed. But all my
longings and wishings were useless; I had to go over
the same tiresome road that all the Jewish children
of orthodox parents must labour through. The
master behind me, drove me on with a volume in one
hand and the rod in the other; my father drove me,
my relations drove me, and thus, without rest or
quiet, I was hurried through all those voluminous
works that are of no value for practical existence
whatever, so that the years of my childhood passed
by, joyless and unenjoyed.
"This Jewish elementary school, called Cheder,
seemed to me just like a prison, and the teacher, who
bore the title of Melamed, I looked upon as a jailer,
so that when the news reached me of my parents'
resolve to send me to a Yeschiva, I welcomed it with
the same joy with which a convict welcomes his
acquittal after long and hard imprisonment.
"It was not difficult to find a suitable Talmud
school for me. The son-in-law of our district Rabbi
was Rosh-Yeshiva (professor at a Talmud college)
in a town where an uncle of mine lived. Thither my
parents sent me shortly after I had been confirmed
(Bar mitzvah), that is to say, when I had completed
my thirteenth year. There, in his private lodgings, I
visited Rabbi Schimele Wolf, for so the Talmud
lecturer was called, and begged him to accept me as
a pupil. At first he received me very coldly, and with
dignity that involuntarily pointed to the importance
of his position, but after I had delivered the recommendations
I brought from his father-in-law, and
had told him that his family doctor was my uncle, the
stern look in his coal-black, thoughtful eyes, that shone
like two glowing specks out of his pale face, fringed by a
black beard, relaxed, and with extreme friendliness, he
dispensed with the usual examination on entrance,
and ordered his servant to lead me to the Yeshiva,
and assign me a place there. We were still at a
considerable distance from our destination when a
great noise of human voices broke on my ear, and
when at last I entered the hall, in which the Yeshiva
was held, I was quite stunned by the terrific noise that
was being made there. More than a hundred boys,
youths of about thirteen to twenty years of age, were
assembled, each one screaming and moving about in
unrestrained restlessness. Some of them were sitting
round long, narrow tables, continually swaying the
upper part of their bodies backwards and forwards
or from side to side. Others were standing in front
of small portable desks, leaning over them or swaying
to and fro with them, or going round and round them.
Each boy had a ponderous volume open before him,
from which he chose a passage, that he quoted at the
top of his voice. One roared like a lion, 'Omar
Rabbi Akiwa (Rabbi Akiwa said) sa......id, sa......id
..Ra......bbi...A......ki......wa..., oi Mamuni (Oh
Mammy) Rabbi, oi Tatutim, (Oh Daddy) Akiwa,
oi Ribene schel olam (Oh Lord of the World) said;
said Rabbi Akiwa; what did Rabbi Akiwa say? A
...ki....wa...sa......id...,' and so on for hours.
Another sang very daintily, imitating the voice of the
chanter in sad and joyful melodies, such as had
remained in his memory from the various festivals, or
he composed something at will, with the following
words; 'According to the doctrine of Samai it is
permitted to eat an egg that has been laid on a
holiday on that same day, whereas according to the
doctrine of Hillel, it is forbidden.' My arrival attracted
their attention and had a subduing effect; there was
a lull. Suddenly a voice cried: 'The Massgiach
(overseer) is coming.' This was uttered in the same
sing-song manner, as though the boy were studying
some sentence out of the Talmud. It was repeated
by a second, then a third and a fourth in the same
manner, and was the signal for them all of one accord
to begin their lamentations and singing afresh, with
increased vigour, endeavouring to drown each other's
voices. It is in this way that these pale boys and
youths prepare for the 'Schir' (lecture), which lasts
from two to four o'clock in the afternoon, taking place
daily, and being carried out in the following manner:—The
scholars stood round in a semi-circle at the feet
of the Rabbi, who sat on an elevated chair at a desk.
Charging one pupil to read a certain passage out of
the Talmud, he desired another to read the commentaries
to it, and again a third to read and explain
the marginal notes to those commentaries.
"In the quiet cloisters of a large town I met a lonely
man, living one day like another, a quiet and edifying
life, to whom I felt particularly attracted. His head
was a real study; a long white beard covered his
breast, and he had a high, broad forehead, a finely
arched nose, and large blue eyes, in which a whole world
of goodness lay; over his features there was an
expression of touching humility, as though he would
excuse himself to everyone for daring to breathe the
air and to fill a space in the universe. Hoping that
with him I should not fare badly, I settled down there,
and indeed, I did not regret it. From the beginning
he showed me his goodwill in unlimited measure, taking
care that I should receive free board from the prayer-men,
who assembled there three times a day, and in
such wise that I boarded with a different one each
day in the week; besides which he contrived to give
me ample pocket-money. I was often allowed to
substitute him in reading 'Mischnais for anniversaries'
(extracts from the Talmud to be read for the departed
souls on the respective days of their death, which the
relations generally remunerate well). He took me
with him wherever he was called to sing psalms or
say prayers, either at the cradle of a new-born child
that had scarcely opened its eyes to the light, or at
the bedside of the dying, closing them to the light, to
a wedding-feast or to a death-watch, and everywhere
money poured in. Thus we lived together day and
night in a neighbourly, friendly manner in the cloisters,
and nothing lay further in the recluse's thoughts than
that he should rob me of my peace of mind, which,
however, he did without wishing to do so. His fervent
prayers for the redemption of the people of Israel it
was that had such a striking effect on my mind. Years
will not efface from my memory the sight of that
old man at midnight, when all around was quiet, and
he thought himself unobserved, taking off his shoes
and seating himself on the floor, imploring the Lord in
heartfelt sincerity, in His mercy to return to Jerusalem
and reign there as He had prophesied. I still hear
those heart-rending tones, in which he prayed; 'Stretch
out Thy right hand, Oh God! and in mercy redeem
the people of Israel. Oh, that it might soon be
announced to the unhappy nation: "Your Redeemer
has come to Zion!"' Every sentence was accompanied
by a sigh or broken by a sob. He imagined me to
be asleep, but I heard every word, and was often
moved to tears, involuntarily beginning myself to pray
eagerly and perseveringly that the Messiah might soon
come and release His people from captivity. From
henceforth I devoted much thought to the subject,
and, in my childish fancy, pictured to myself how
glorious it would be when the Messiah would come,
and, as a child rejoices to greet its father from afar, I
looked forward, daily and hourly, to the advent of the
Redeemer of Israel. On the other hand, the question
often worried me; Why does not God answer such
real and fervent prayers? Why does not the Messiah
come to release His people? I did not dare to speak
to Rabbi Todresch, such was the name of the recluse, on
the subject, but once when a Talmudist from some
well-known Talmud school came back to his home in
the cloisters, I told him what it was that troubled
me so much, and my astonishment was indeed great
when I heard his answer: 'Prayers such as those
will and can never be answered; for the Messiah has
come.' In vain did I beg him to explain it to me, but
he purposely avoided all my questions, telling me only
so much that he possessed a book which explained
the question thoroughly, but which he could not
entrust to me for fear of the consequences such a step
might have for himself; besides, it would be of no
use to me, as I should have to give up my present
career entirely. 'If you want to know the full truth,'
he said to me, 'you must go abroad, for only there
can you search after the truth freely and independently;
whereas here, you must sell your freedom for your
bread.' Tortured by restlessness, despair and longing,
and fearful lest my parents should get ear of the
change in my heart, when they would certainly oppose
my plans, I decided to follow his advice at once and
to leave Russia.
"After taking a hearty leave of the recluse, and my
new friend, the Talmud student, I seized my staff and
went out into the wide world, a toy for wind and
weather. Like a nomad, I wandered uncertain, for
a long period, from town to town and from village to
village. It was quite late often when I reached a
strange place; all the doors and gates were closed,
and I turned my steps to the ever open house of God,
entered upon a 'Kasche' (a Talmudic question of
dispute) with any one of those present, and I immediately
felt at home, had my board and lodging, and the
pious prayer-men, who came there daily, openly and
secretly pressed their charitable gifts into my hand.
Thus I was enabled to wander through the whole of
Russia to the frontier, which, having no passport, I could
not legally cross, and was therefore forced to smuggle
myself through by giving a man a rouble to conduct
me through a wood which led into Germany. Now
that I was in another country, my position became a
different one. On reaching the first German town, I
asked as usual for the 'Beth-Hamedrash' (Jewish prayer
and school-house), but to my greatest dismay no one
could give me any information. Only one thing I
was aware of, and that was that I could not make
myself understood at all. It was evening; the first
stars, those companions of my wanderings, began to
twinkle in the sky, but into my sad heart no light
would enter; there all was dark and dull. Here
I was, standing at the corner of a street leaning against
a post, a little bundle in my hand, without means,
work, knowledge or language; alone, forsaken, not
knowing where to turn. A lady passing by stopped
and looked at me inquisitively. The sight of a
slender little lad, clothed in the long wide Kaftan, with
a pale face and sad eyes filled with tears, must have
aroused her sympathy. She addressed me, but finding
I did not understand a word she said, she gave me a
few pence and showed me an inn where I could pass
the night. It was certainly a very cheap night's-lodging
that I had, but I was obliged to sleep amongst tipsy
room-companions, to whom I was much too interesting
a personage for them to leave in peace. Some would
insist on making a common covering of my long coat;
others played incessantly with my long fore-locks,
whilst others again were interested in my Arba-Kanfoth
(a garment with fringe at the ends) and were
continually pulling at them. It was a long, weary
night that I passed there, and as soon as the rising sun
shone faintly through the dirty window-panes I
hastened out, and, being once more alone, allowed
my tears to flow. For the first time since my
departure home-sickness with all its overwhelming
power quite overcame me, and I felt the seriousness
of life in its full meaning. However, I soon took
courage again, laid my Tephillin (prayer-strap) on and
implored the Lord to lend me His assistance and
protection, taking a solemn oath that from henceforth
I would blindly let myself be guided by Him in
all things. With this sacred oath and with the firm
conviction that the Lord would carry out all to His
glory, I went on my way. With great difficulty and
many privations I reached Breslau, where I met a
man from Russia, who assisted me in obtaining a
place as instructor of the Hebrew language in a Polish
Jew's family. After staying there a few months I
seemed, curiously enough, to be drawn as by an invisible
hand towards Vienna. The money I had
earned as a teacher amply sufficed to take me there,
and after a lengthy search, I found inexpensive
lodgings in a Jewish family. (The head of the family
is dead, but the wife still lives here, and her son is
now, thanks be to God, a dear believing Protestant
Christian.) Here I became acquainted with a Jewish
shoemaker, who was the first to give me a New
Testament in the Hebrew language to read. The
very first sentence in that book was sufficient to draw
me to it like a magnet, for there it was written what
that Talmud-scholar had briefly told me, written
clearly and in full, namely, that the Messiah, who
until now had been the object of my prayers, my
desires and hopes, had actually been born. On asking
him to tell me something more about the book, the
shoemaker conducted me to the missionary, Herr
E. Weiss, who advised me to go to Pastor Schönberger,
preacher at Prague, where I found a very friendly
welcome. I passed the winter there, but, as Pastor
Schönberger was obliged to be away for a year, he
took me to his friend, the Rev. D. A. Hefter, L.J.S.
missionary at Frankfort-on-the-Main, who kindly took
me under his paternal care.
"The year 1881 was a decisive one for me. The
Word of Life rooted itself deeper and deeper in my
heart; prejudices vanished one by one, and the love
of Jesus took their place. I perceived how deeply my
heart had been wounded by sin; but at the same time
I acknowledged the most lovable of all the children of
the earth, the Son of God, who has redeemed me too
through the shedding of His innocent blood, and has
healed all my wounds. On the 14th of August, 1881,
I was baptized by the missionary, Herr Hefter, in
the 'Dreikönigskirche' at Frankfort-on-the-Main,
receiving the names Nathanael Karl Albert. At first
I learnt the art of bookbinding in Frankfort, but as
the Rev. D. A. Hefter desired me to become a pupil at
the missionary-house in Barmen, I complied with his
desire most willingly, regarding this step as one
indicated by the Lord. One year I passed in the
preparatory-school of the missionary-house, and four
years in the seminary itself. During these years I
received abundant blessings from the Lord. I was
led deeper and deeper into the Spirit of the Word
of God, and guided to more independent search by
teachers endowed with truly divine minds, and treated
with the greatest affection by a friendly circle of
brethren, among whom I was permitted, thanks be to
God, to grow stronger in faith, more fervent in love,
and riper in understanding. To serve the Lord in
His empire, and to win souls for Him out of His
ancient people of the covenant, was my most coveted
desire, and this too the Lord has granted me in His
endless goodness and mercy. At the end of the
year 1887 I passed my final examinations, and at the
beginning of 1888, in answer to the proposal of the
British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
among the Jews, I was permitted to begin my active
duty among Israel in Vienna. Three years later, in
1891, I received my ordination from the celebrated
theologian of Würtemberg, Dr. Burk, in Stuttgart.
"One incontestible certainty has been proved to me
both in the wonderful guidance of my life as also in
my profession, which I now hold for more than
sixteen years, that of myself I can do nothing, not
even the slightest thing, and imbued with the conviction
of my powerlessness and utter helplessness, of
my own poverty and wretchedness, I have learnt to
make use of the sweetest privilege of our life, namely,
the subjection of my own will to the will of my
Saviour, Jesus Christ."
Kaufmann, Rev. Moritz, T.C.D., a native of Germany,
convert and student of the L.J.S. about 1860, was
ordained Deacon in London, 1865; priest in the
diocese of Meath, 1869. He held two livings in
Ireland, was Lecturer, Tutor, and Assistant Chaplain
of St. Aidan's College, Birkenhead, from 1877 to 1883.
In 1884 he was appointed Vicar of Erpingham, and
afterward Rector of Ingworth, Norfolk. Dr. Kaufmann
obtained the prize for Hebrew, Chaldaic and Syriac,
and is the author of the following works: "Socialism,
its Nature, its Dangers, and its Remedies Considered,"
1874; "Utopias, or Schemes for Social Improvement
from Sir Thomas More to Karl Marx," 1879;
"Christian Socialism," 1888; "Charles Kingsley,
Christian Socialist and Reformer," 1892; "Socialism
and Modern Thought," 1895.
Kautz, Christian Friedrich, baptized in Berlin, 1702,
published in 1703 "Des 12 jährigen Jesu vom
Nazareth Verstand im Fragen und antworten, darüber
sich die juden verwundern," also "Erkannte Göttliche
Wahrheit aus der Schrift Alten und Neuen Testamentes,"
Waldenburg, 1716, and a "Catechismus
für Juden," 1720.
Keyper, a native of Prague, was Rabbi in
Schleusinger, where he was converted and baptized
by Superintendent Friedrich Ernest Weis in 1715.
He afterwards was lecturer on Jewish antiquities in
Altorf and in Regensburg. Later he gave lessons in
Talmud and Rabbinics at Bremen. Wolff in Bib. Heb.
3, 4, N. 1356 b. speaks of him as a learned, upright
and sincere man.
Kiel, a physician from Roumania, made, as a pious
Jew a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, thinking that in the
Holy City he would find spiritual satisfaction and
peace, but he did not find it in the Judaism that he
found there, but in the Gospel which was preached
by the missionaries. He and his wife were baptized
by Bishop Alexander in 1844, and he laboured afterwards
as a medical missionary in Safed.
Klein, Julius Leopold, a native of Hungary, born
at Nocskolez, 1810, died in Berlin, 1810. He was a
physician, poet and writer. His works appeared in
seven volumes, under the title "Dramatische werke,"
Leipsic, 1871-2.
Köbner, Pastor Julius, was born in Denmark in
1806. Was by profession an optician like Spinoza,
but God vouchsafed to him greater spiritual sight
than to the philosopher. He embraced Christian
faith in the Lutheran Church of which he became a
minister, but afterwards joined the Baptists.
Endowed with spiritual and mental gifts, he
henceforth laboured with great zeal in Copenhagen,
where he built the Christian Chapel, and also in
many other parts. Later he laboured in Berlin,
where he died 1884. His notable writings are, "Das
Lied von Gott," an epic poem from the creation to
the redemption of the world. "Die Waldenser," a
dramatic poem with notes, "Die Neue Erde." On
his hundredth birthday, 1906, appeared a hundred
of his choicest sermons in the press, under the title
"Lebens Wasser."
Kofler, Carl, born in Lemberg, 1820, was baptized
with his parents at Breslau in 1822, graduated at the
University there, and was appointed Vicar in Bad
Lardeck in Silesia in 1851. He is recorded to have
been a gifted preacher of the Gospel and a conscientious
pastor. He died in 1877.
Koppel, Dr. J., born in the Archduchy of Posen in
1830. He began to learn Hebrew when he was three
years old. Afterwards he attended a Roman Catholic
school, where he was badly treated, and he imbibed
strong prejudices against Christianity. In 1846 he
entered a Jewish seminary for teachers at Bromberg,
and when he finished his studies, he was appointed
teacher by the Government in a town near the
Russian border, and also interpreter. At that time
he realised that there was a great contrast between
the Bible and the Talmud, but he had no inclination
towards Christianity whatever. Coming to Berlin,
he made the acquaintance of Dr. Jaffe, whose brother
was a missionary of the British Society, and he
advised him to go to him for Christian instruction.
The result was that he was baptized by Jaffe. In
1860, Koppel entered the service of the British
Society, and laboured at first in England. In Bristol
he became acquainted with George Müller and with
his institution, which served him to good purpose in
his future activity. Returning the same year to
Bromberg, it happened that one day a pair of boots
were stolen from him, and a poor beggar boy was
suspected of the theft. This incident awakened in
Koppel's heart deep compassion towards the poor
neglected boys, and he applied to the municipal
authorities for permission to found a Home or Ragged
School for them where they might receive Christian
training. This permission was, after some hesitation,
granted, and the Home was opened in 1864, which
served at the same time as a refuge for gutter children,
orphans, Jewish enquirers and converts. Koppel
then displayed great activity together with Dr. Ben
Zion, Dr. Mossa and other friends whom he gathered
around him. They instructed the children, visited the
prisons, preached to the Jews, of whom thirty-five were
converted there. Koppel laboured in faith, and the
means of support were not wanting. A waiter sent
him 200 thaler and rich people helped him liberally.
In 1866 there were seventy inmates in the "Home" at
Salem. In 1869 Koppel, not feeling strong enough
to carry on the work, delivered it to others and went
to London, where he did similar work and was well
known at the Mildmay Conference Hall. Subsequently
he went to Texas to found a colony there.
Kronheim, Joseph Nathaniel, a native of Magdeburg
and son of wealthy parents. In his youth he led a
restless life, served as a soldier under Napoleon I.
in his Russian campaign, and then was schoolmaster
in Magdeburg, where he bought a New
Testament, to teach moral principles from it. The
rabbi, on hearing of this, dissolved the school. He
then came to England and made the acquaintance of
Bishop Alexander, who preached the Gospel to him.
He then took more time to investigate the question
at issue between Judaism and Christianity, travelling
in the country to sell optical instruments, till he
came to the Rev. Wyndham Madden, of Woodhouse
Parsonage, near Huddersfield, by whom he was
further instructed and baptized in 1832. In 1835 he
settled as optician in Belfast. A year later the
friends of the Jews there, observing his Christian
character, ability, and great Biblical knowledge,
asked him to give up his business and become an
agent of the Belfast Auxiliary Society, which he did,
though he was then sixty years old. Through him a
lively interest was awakened in Ireland for the cause
of missions among the Jews. He laboured there for
seventeen years, and died in 1852.
Krönig, Rev. Joshua Charles Solomon, heard the
Gospel in Paris from the L.J.S. missionary Markheim,
and was baptized by him in 1857, in the chapel of
Lewis Way, when Lord Shaftesbury was one of the
sponsors. After doing good work in London as
a city missionary, he studied theology at King's
College, was ordained by the Archbishop of York,
1871-1872, and was appointed by trustees to the
Vicarage of St. Barnabas, Hull, where he laboured
for the rest of his life as a faithful minister of the
Gospel to his congregation and missionary to his own
people, esteemed and beloved by them both. In
1875 he opened a reading-room for Jews, which he
called a "Beth hamedrash," in which he placed one of
his own converts as house-father. In 1881 he bought
a house for this purpose, on which he placed the
inscription, "The doors of Zion, house for studying
God's Word." In 1884, he told a pathetic story of
a Jew who was a blasphemer, but whom the power
of the Gospel converted and regenerated, so that he
became his assistant in the work of the mission.
Krönig was much sought after as a deputation.
Kropveld, Rev. E., Pastor at Ablasserdam in
Holland and Secretary of the Dutch Reformed
Church Mission to the Jews. He was brought up in
strict Jewish orthodoxy. Starting in life in a merchant's
office and living carelessly, he one day had
a conversation with a Christian peasant, who assured
him that he was certain of entering at last into the
heavenly Canaan. This made a deep impression
upon him, and he began to live in stricter conformity
with Judaism. At the age of seventeen he heard the
L.J.S. missionary Pauli preach, and felt the power of
the Gospel message, which led to his being baptized.
He then became a colporteur of religious books,
when he suffered much from his friends, yet lived so
economically that he managed to save sufficient money
to enable him to study for the ministry. He then
became Pastor in Rundem, Minnertsga, and at last
in Ablasserdam. He wrote several books in relation
to the Jews.
Kuh, Christian Daniel, a merchant in Breslau,
having been convinced of the truth of Christianity,
was baptized in the Evangelical Church at Breslau in
1805. The result was that his wife and three children,
his brother-in-law Hans August Fisher, and his
fiancée followed his example.
Kunert, Rev. Karl, was born on May 25th, 1870, at
Krotoschin, in Posen, one of the Prussian provinces.
Of his history he says:—"My father was a furrier,
who, in the family of his grandfather, a rabbi at
Breslau, received not only the usual superficial
knowledge of Judaism, but at the same time a truly
orthodox education, and, as a pious Jew, he took
good care that the laws of his people should be
strictly kept by his whole family.
"I was named Karl, after this great grandfather,
and I was expected to follow his profession likewise.
As far as I can remember, I assisted at Divine service
every morning and evening from about the third year
of my life, and from the age of four I joined in the
prayers whenever they were offered. Nor were the
other branches of my education in any way neglected.
Being able to read and write when quite a little boy
of five, I became well versed in the history of my
people and country. When nine years of age I was
sent to the college of my native town, and later on,
when my parents removed to Breslau, I visited the
Catholic college of that town, but at the same time
the Jewish school. It was at this period of my life
that I got a very strong antipathy to Christ and His
adherents. Is that to be wondered at? All I saw
was the thoughtless worship of Popish idols. And
then, the greater evil to my young soul was wrought
by my fellow-pupils, who, though educated in the
Catholic faith, nevertheless found much pleasure in
laughing at each new thought or religious exercise,
and spent much time in reading all kinds of immoral
books.
"I was very fond of reading, and in the memorable
year 1885, the Lord led me to purchase the New
Testament. There was a certain sacristan at Breslau
who sold the books and tracts of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, and often on Sundays, about
dinner time, I went to see him and to buy books
to read. In this way I came into possession of the
New Testament in Greek, German and French. But
the sacristan never uttered a word in favour of the
Gospel, and I thought him a very greedy man who
sold Christian books for the only purpose of gaining
money. Such behaviour in a professing Christian,
together with the sad experiences in my school-time,
made me an embittered enemy of Christ and His
Church. During my time at college I visited the
University and the Rabbinic Seminary, in order to
prepare myself for the chosen profession of a Rabbi.
The bitter hatred of all who confessed Christ grew
more and more intense, and at last, I triumphantly
delivered a public lecture at Berlin against Christianity.
"But already, at the time of my visiting the
Rabbinic Seminary, I felt an inner restlessness, and
even when I changed theological studies for other
pursuits, this uneasiness would not quit me. I used
to perform the Jewish law with a still greater zeal,
notwithstanding that the inner voice told me most
distinctly that I was wrong and would never find
true happiness in this way. I could speak to no one
about this conflict of my soul. The Jews did not
understand me, and Christian people I most heartily
despised.
"I then resolved to go to Paris, firmly believing
that new surroundings would restore my peace of
mind, and I felt I must conquer the heartfelt unrest
at any rate. But on the very day of my arrival in
Paris I took the train for Antwerp, and the next
morning found me wandering about the streets of
that town in dread despair. At length I resolved to
return home, and that once more at Berlin I would
seek rest in work. But in vain. I wandered under
the old trees of the Tiergarten for long hours
wrestling with my God, whom I was willing to serve,
but after my own fashion as a Jew. I would not
yield, and though I was hardly able to bear this
inward conflict longer, I still went on with praying
in public on the Day of Atonement.
"At the close of November, 1898, my anxiety grew
so strong that I resolved to start for Altona, in order to
be thoroughly instructed about Christianity, in a
mission house. Nobody had told me of such an
institution, but by chance I learned of its existence
from one of its former inmates. The 26th of
November, 1898, found me at Hamburg. But still
the old Adam would not yield, and I never entered
the mission house till the utmost need forced me to
go and see the Rev. A. Frank. He received me most
kindly, and was willing to give me shelter in the
house, but told me that, like all other inmates, I
would have to engage in manual labour. I most
gladly agreed to this, and I became a pupil of the
mission on December 1st.
"Far from the noise and influence of the world I
first met my Saviour in all His glory. There was
no question now about justification by performing
Moses' laws; His light made me see my sins in all
their awfulness, and I broke down crying, 'My
punishment is greater than I can bear' (Gen. iv. 13).
But soon Divine love made me sing, 'My life is
preserved' (Gen. xxxii. 30), and all my heart went
out to my Saviour who had done so much for me.
I was baptized on April 23rd by Pastor Aston.
For a short time after I stayed at Hamburg as a
private teacher, and the Lord's blessing was with
me; but I was soon asked by our dear Pastor
Dworkowicz if I would be willing to work as
missionary to the Jews, and he felt I might be of
service at Königsberg. Circumstances at the
beginning of 1901 made my way clear. I knew then
that it was after my Saviour's will that I should
enter upon this work; so I applied to the British
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the
Jews, and I was accepted on June 9th, on the
recommendation of Pastors Dworkowicz, Aston
and Frank, of Hamburg. I commenced work there
under the direction of the first named, but on March
15, 1902, I started for Königsberg, in order to labour
in that city for the glory of God my Saviour. 'The
Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are
glad' (Ps. cxxvi. 3)."
Landsman, Daniel, was living in Jerusalem about
1870, maintaining himself by his handiwork as a strict,
pious Jew. Whenever the L.J.S. missionary Stern met
him he used to preach Christ crucified to him, so that
at last he, in a passion, assaulted Stern violently, but at
length was conquered by the Gospel, and then
became his best friend. After his baptism in the
Holy City he witnessed for Christ there before the
Jews for some time. Then a position as assistant
missionary was offered him in the Scotch Presbyterian
mission at Constantinople, where he zealously laboured
for seventeen years, and Bassin, afterward a missionary
was one of those in whose conversion he was
instrumental. He then emigrated to the United
States, and was appointed by the Lutheran Synod
at Missouri as missionary in New York about 1883,
where he was blessed in his efforts to win souls for
the Kingdom of God. He wrote the following tracts,
partly in Hebrew and Yiddish, "Jeshua Sar ha
Panim"; "Jeshua ha Nozri ist der Messiah Emeth,"
"Memra," "Shabbath Feiertage und Beschneidung";
"Was sagen die Rabbinere über Maschiah"; "Was
sagt die Kabbalah, &c., über die Dreieinigkeit
Gottes," 1888.
Laseron, Dr. Michael Maximilian August Heinrich,
born in Königsberg, 1819, died in London, 1894.
His father was a rabbi, but died on the same
day, as his mother, when he was only seven years
old. Laseron was then brought up by bigoted
relations, who were not very kind to him. Owing to
this he had no great love for the Jews, but rather
sought after Christians, from whom he learned to
know the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. He did not
conceal his convictions, but told his relatives that he
had a desire to become a Christian. Thereupon
they so illtreated him that his life was in danger; so
when he was seventeen, he escaped on foot to
Frankfort, enduring great hardship on the way.
Then he was instructed and baptized by Pastor
Keimers, but he could not remain in Frankfort on
account of persecution by the Jews, so he went to
Basel. Scarcely had he arrived there, when he
got very ill, and the wife of the missionary, a lady
by the name of Haslen, nursed him till he
recovered. Friends in Switzerland recommended him
to the L.J.S., and he was for a time in the Operative
Jewish Converts' Institution, Palestine Place. Then
he entered as a student the newly-founded Missionary
Training College of the British Jews' Society, and
remained there over two years. However, though
he was interested in the Jewish mission, and took
practical part in the same, yet he felt that he was
called to be a medical man, and the Committee
allowed him to leave in 1849. Thereupon he went to
Erlangen and studied medicine, and at the same time
practised homœopathy privately. Laseron then returned
to London, and was a successful practitioner.
Settling at Edmonton in 1854, he there lost his
eldest child. This was the occasion for a call to a
great enterprise of faith which bore glorious fruit.
The bereaved parents noticing in the street poor,
half-starved children, resorted to prayer and then
resolved to establish an asylum for poor children
where they could receive a good education. An
Irish lady hearing of it, sent him £3; with this
encouragement he hired a house, appointed a teacher,
and opened the school in 1856, having sixteen scholars
on the fore-noon of the first day and more in the afternoon.
He also built a chapel. In a few months
the school was so full that he could not admit any
more children. Then he opened evening classes and
services on Sunday, which were attended by 150
persons, who seldom went to a place of worship. In
answer to earnest prayer Dr. Laseron received small
and large, and even very large, gifts of money for his
work in a most remarkable manner, often from
people who were entire strangers to him, notably
the brothers Samuel and John Morley supported him
very generously, so that he was enabled to establish
the Evangelical Protestant Deaconesses' Training
Institution at Tottenham, now called The Prince of
Wales's General Hospital. Dr. Laseron reached the
age of 75, and before his departure he asked a friend
to write to his children in Australia—"I thank God
that I am surrounded by such as love me and
Him."
Laseron, Rev. David, came to Edinburgh from
Germany, and maintained himself there by giving lessons
in German and in Hebrew. He had also Christian
pupils who visited him when he was sick and from
whose young lips he first heard of the great Physician
of souls. After his baptism in 1844 he was sent as
a missionary to Cochin, where he established schools
for heathen and Jewish children. In 1852, these
schools were attended by 16 white Jewish boys, 112
black Jewish boys and 24 girls. Laseron baptized
one Jew there by the name of Jehil Benjamin, in
1849. He was recalled home in 1855, owing to
some disagreement with his colleague.
Lasson, Adolf, born in Alt Strelitz, 1859, embraced
Christianity while he was tutor of Philosophy in the
University of Berlin. He wrote the following works:
"Fichte über das Verhältniss von Staat und Kirche,"
Berlin, 1863; "Meister Eckhardt der Mystiker,"
1878; "Das Cultur ideal und der Krieg," 1868;
"Principien der Zukunft des Volkesrechts," 1871.
In reference to religion, he belonged to the
evangelical party in the German Church. The year
of his baptism is not known.
Laub, P. B., born in the Bukowina, Austria, and
received a strictly orthodox Jewish education. Receiving
a New Testament from some one, he became
convinced of the truth of Christianity, and then
went to London, where he came in contact with the
writer, who recommended him to the Operative Jewish
Converts' Institution, but he soon left for Stuttgart,
and was baptized by Gottheil there. He then studied
at Basel, but wishing to devote his life to the Jewish
Mission, he went to the Institutum Delitzschianum,
in Leipzig, to prepare himself for future work. In
1889, he went to assist Mr. Flad in Tunis, and then
was called by the French, and afterwards by the Swiss
Missionary Society to be their missionary in Alsace.
Lauria, Rabbi Elieser, was one of several Rabbis
who became Christians in Jerusalem in the first half
of the nineteenth century. He was baptized by
Bishop Alexander in 1843, whereupon he was forced
by the Jewish authorities to divorce his wife, who was
sent by them back to Russia. She, however, returned
to him in 1846, and in the next year she too made
a public confession of her faith in our Saviour.
Henceforth she assisted her husband in winning souls,
and they laboured together at Cairo, until her death
of cholera in 1849. Lauria opened a mission school
there in 1850. He was much esteemed, even by the
rabbis, and he circulated the Scriptures as far as
Arabia, and the mission was not without results.
Lazarus, Joshua George, was baptized with his wife
and two children in Liverpool, under the ministry of
Rev. H. S. Joseph. In 1842, he became his assistant
there and in Manchester. In 1851, Lazarus reported
that sixty-eight Jews had been baptized since he
entered upon his labours in the two cities. He retired
on account of feeble health in 1853, and died in 1869.
Lebert, Herman, M.D. (Levy), born 1813, died
1878. He as a Christian doctor was very distinguished.
Friedrich Wilhelm IV. bestowed upon him
the gold medal for Art and Science. He became
Professor of Medicine in Breslau, 1859. His literary
works are: "Anatomie Pathologique générale et
speciale," 2 vols., 1854-62, for which the Parisian
Academy gave him the prize. "Handbuch der
Practischen Medicin," 2 vols., 1859.
Lebrecht, Abraham (Herz), born at Gross-Glogau
Germany, 1706. At the age of seventeen both his
parents died, and his relatives sent him to a Jewish high
school at Prague. In 1739, he was a teacher at Belgrade,
and when the Turks captured the city, they sold
him and Newman, son of a Lutheran pastor, with many
others, as slaves. The master tempted Newman to
sin, but he resisted, and was cruelly beaten. The
master then tried to make him yield through the
medium of Herz, but Newman said to him: "I cannot
offend my Lord Jesus, and would rather die than
commit sin." This made a strong impression upon the
young Jew, and henceforth he became very anxious
about the state of his soul, and the other preached to
him the good tidings of salvation through Christ.
Newman died from the stripes he had received, and
Herz was sold to Hadshi Mustapha, who brought
him to Smyrna in 1741. There the Jewish community
bought his release, presented him with
sixteen ducats, and sent him to Constantinople,
whence he made his way back to Germany, where in
various ways he experienced the lovingkindness of
God. Twice when he was in great despair, and was
about to commit suicide, he was providentially saved
and brought to his senses by Christians, who had
come to him at the right moment. In his wanderings
he visited Friedrich Augusti, the well-known convert,
who had had similar trials. Finally, he was
baptized on Whitsunday, 1744, when he assumed the
name of Lebrecht (Live right), and refused to receive
a present from his sponsors, which it was the
custom to give. He then lived as a consistent Christian
to the age of 70, and died in 1776. This extract
is taken by Pastor de le Roi from Lebrecht's
autobiography, which closes with a prayer for the
conversion of Israel.
Lederer, Gideon R., born in 1804. As the son of a
rabbi he was educated in strict rabbinical orthodoxy,
and for a time was a rabbi himself. He and his wife
were converted under the ministry of the early
Scotch missionaries, and afterwards assisted them to
spread the Gospel in Hungary. In 1853, he came to
London, but soon after went to New York, where
he laboured for the rest of his days, as a humble city
missionary, with much blessing. He edited a periodical
entitled, "The Israelite Indeed," and the writer
knew him as such an one himself.
Leener, de Louis, a Dutch convert of the nineteenth
century, was a respected author. Among his
works are these—(1) "Ben Onie, Tafereelen uit het
dagboek van een tot het Christendom bekeerden
Israelit," (2) "De waarde vrouw in Israel," (3) "De
Nederlandsche jood," (4) "Ons Pascha," Amsterdam,
1865-70.
Lehrs, Karl, was born in Königsberg in 1802, and died
1878. It is recorded that while studying in Berlin he
became a Christian from conviction, and was baptized
in 1822. A number of his relatives were influenced
by him for Christianity. He was a classical teacher
in several schools, and then Professor at the University
of Königsberg. He published a book of considerable
merit under the title, "De Aristarchi Studiis
Homericis," 1833; "Questiones Epicae," 1837;
"Pindars-scholien," 1873.
Leibnisth, Samuel, born 1823, was a Jewish teacher,
and after his conversion, about 1868, devoted his
leisure to voluntary missionary work among the Jews
in Germany. In 1874, he was appointed missionary
at Elberfeld, where he died in 1882.
Leitner, H. C., was won for the Master by the Rev.
C. A. Schönberger. He laboured at Constantinople as a
very able teacher in the Scotch mission schools for
many years.
Leitner, Dr. M., born at Pesth in 1800, studied
medicine and settled as a practitioner at Broussa in
Turkey. Having come into possession of a New
Testament, he read it carefully, and was converted and
baptized in 1844. He then gave up his lucrative
position and devoted his life to missionary work. He
was the L.J.S. medical missionary at Constantinople
from 1853 to 1861, when he died of fever.
Leo, Dr., a physician in Warsaw, after having had
intercourse with the L.J.S. missionaries for eight
years, became fully convinced of the truth of the Gospel,
and was baptized with his family in 1831.
Leonhard, Friedrich Conrad, a convert in the latter
half of the eighteenth century, published a dialogue
under the title, "Erweis dass die Rabbinen Schnurstracks
wider dass Gesetz Moses lehren, Aus den
Kirchengesetzbüchern der heutigen Juden geführt,"
with a preface by Pastor Siegmund Mörl, Nürnberg,
1781.
Lessman, Daniel, was born in Soldin (Brandenburg),
1794, studied medicine in Berlin, was wounded in the
war, baptized in 1824, he became a great author,
novelist, biographer and poet.
Levi, Jacob, a native of Smyrna, according to the
report of Dr. Buchanan, heard the Gospel from a C.M.S.
missionary. He then bought a New Testament and
studied it with the intention of refuting the arguments
of the missionary, and for this purpose he translated
it into Hebrew, but the result was that he became a
believer and preached Christ to Jews, Mohammedans
and Christians.
Levi, Jacob, baptized by the missionaries Lewis
and Hartley at Athens, about 1840-1. Was cast into
prison by the Rabbis ten times. In the prison at Casanegra,
he was bastinadoed and kept six months, but
he declared if he was there a thousand years he
would still confess that Jesus was the true Messiah.
Levi, Dr. Leone, was born in Ancona, 1802, and
settled in England. An article of his in the "Liverpool
Album," in 1849, occasioned the establishment of the
Chamber of Commerce, of which he became secretary.
He joined the Presbyterian Church, was author of "Commercial
Laws, their Principles and Administration,"
1850-52; "Wages and Earnings of the Working
Classes," 1867; "History of British Commerce and
of the Economic Progress of the British Nation,"
1863-70. He became professor of political economy
at King's College in 1862; barrister in Lincoln's Inn,
1859; D.L. of Tübingen, 1861: and died in 1888.
Levien, Edward, was born in 1818, of highly respectable
Jewish parents, nearly related to the distinguished
Goldsmids. His parents returned to the true faith,
and were baptized and admitted into the Church of
England, with their children, when the latter were yet
of tender age. He was educated at Shrewsbury
Grammar School, under Drs. Butler and Kennedy,
and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took honours
in classics. In that department he filled a professor's
chair at Glasgow. His great skill in ancient manuscripts,
and intimate acquaintance with historical lore
commended him, in 1850, to an important post in the
MSS. department of the British Museum. This post
he held for nearly a quarter of a century, with
advantage to the public and credit to himself. He was
also honorary secretary of the British Archæological
Association, to which he rendered essential service in
promoting its prosperity, in various ways, literary and
otherwise. His loss to that Association was as keenly
felt by their Committee as by his most intimate
friends. The catalogue of the British Museum has
several pages devoted to his literary productions.
Levinsohn, Hessel, a brother of the next named,
who together with his parents had anathematized Isaac
on account of his supposed apostasy, was in the first
place influenced by him through correspondence,
not to pass such a harsh judgment upon himself.
Then, when he came to England, he was gradually
won by him and other Hebrew Christians to read the
New Testament, and to search the Scriptures earnestly,
until he too could publicly confess that Jesus was his
own Redeemer. He afterward became a missionary
of the British Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel amongst the Jews.
Levinson, Rev. Isaac, was born in Kovno (Russia),
in 1855. His father was a pious man, and used to fast
every Monday and Thursday. When Isaac was five
years old, his father himself taught him Hebrew, and
then sent him to school, where he made rapid progress
in learning, so that at the age of eight he could read
the Pentateuch with the Targum and Rashi's commentary.
Henceforth he studied mostly the Talmud,
in which he felt no delight nor even satisfaction,
especially when at thirteen years of age he became
bar mitsvah (confirmed), and began to realize
responsibility for his sins. This caused him to lay
aside the doctrines of men, and to study more diligently
the Word of God. In 1871 he took leave of his
parents, and after much hardship and God's loving
care on the journey, arrived in London, September
19th, with the intention to go from there to America
or Australia. But just as he landed he was robbed of
the little baggage he possessed, and a kind Jew took
him to his house, with whom he spent the Day of
Atonement. Subsequently he once passed by the
L.J.S. Chapel at Palestine Place, and noticed a Hebrew
inscription on the front. Thinking it was a synagogue
he entered, and was surprised to find that it was a
Christian place of worship, where the prayers were said
in Hebrew. He listened to the service, and after it
was over, a Hebrew Christian spoke to him, and told
him that he had found peace in believing in Jesus as
the Messiah. This was exactly what Isaac was
searching for. He then made the acquaintance of
Dr. Stern, was instructed and baptized by him, and
entered the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution.
After a time Levinson was for some years a clerk in the
R.T.S., where he made good use of his time in preparing
himself for studying in Spurgeon's College. He was
then ordained to the Baptist ministry, and was engaged
by the British Society as deputational secretary, in
which capacity he laboured zealously and ably for some
years, until he was called to succeed the late Rev.
John Dunlop, as chief secretary of the same Society.
Levy, Benjamin, was the son of Moses Levy, one of
a well-known firm of shipowners in London. When
he was quite a young man he set up in business as a
clothier and draper in Holborn. Subsequently he
removed to Sunderland, where he spent the last forty-two
years of his life; and so greatly did he prosper
that he opened branches of his business in Shields,
Stockton, Middlesborough, West Hartlepool and
Barrow in Furness. His admission by baptism into
the Church of Christ took place when he was twenty-six
years old. Before then he had drifted away from
the moorings of the synagogue, and then soon
followed his total neglect of all religious observance,
and all belief in the Bible. It was at this crisis in
his religious life that he was brought under decidedly
Christian influences. He came in contact with a
clergyman of the Church of England, who led him to
accept Christ and Him crucified; after which he
ever remained a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus,
and a promoter of Christian work. He became
Warden of St. Thomas', Sunderland, for which
Church he did a great deal. He was elected
member of the Town Council of Bishopwearmouth
in 1861, and in 1871 he was made Alderman of the
Sunderland Ward; had he lived longer, he would
have attained the chief civil dignity there. His funeral
was attended by the whole Town Council in its official
capacity. He left a family of four sons and five
daughters, all of whom were doing well at that time.
Levy, Philip, was converted in England, at the
beginning of the eighteenth century. He published an
English, Hebrew, and Chaldee Grammar in 1705, at
Oxford.
Lewald, Fanny, daughter of a Jewish banker at
Königsberg, and born 1811, became a member of the
Evangelical Church by baptism in 1828. She is
distinguished as a great authoress. Her works comprise
twelve vols., six of them under the title, "Meine
Lebens Geschichte" (Autobiography), Berlin, 1871-75.
She died at the age of 78, in 1889.
Lewis, Dr. de Leno, was editor of "Israel's
Watchman," at Baltimore, 1888.
Lichtenstein, George Philipp (Susskind Mayer),
was born at Frankfort in 1606, and became a Christian
through intercourse with pious Christians, and through
hearing Christian hymns.
Lichtenstein, Jacob, the brother of the above, born
in 1826, became a more famous pastor and theologian.
He published "Das Leben unsers Herrn," Erlangen,
1855; "Prüfet alles und das Gute behaltet," 1870.
He died in 1875.
Lichtenstein, Jehiel Zebi (Hershensohn), was born
at Jassy, in 1831, and brought up in Bessarabia, among
the Chassidim and Kabbalists. Having received a
New Testament at Jassy, he studied it diligently,
and being convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, he
baptized himself in a river in 1855. In 1868, he
published a Kabbalistic book, entitled, "Limude
hanebiim," in which he tried to show that the teaching
of the Kabbalah and of the New Testament are
identical. In 1872, he came to London and was
baptized by Dr. Stern. He then assisted for a short
time Mr. Dworkowicz in Warsaw and Pastor Weber
in Neudeklslau. From 1874 to 1879 he laboured as
a missionary of the Berlin Society in Berlin. He
then was for a time in Russia, whence he went to
Leipzig in 1885, where he was afterwards appointed
to be one of the tutors at the Institutum Delitzschianum.
He is the author, besides the above-mentioned,
of the following Hebrew works:—"Chizzuk
Emunah Emeth" (A defence of Christianity against
the Jewish book "Chizzuk Emunah,") 1879; "Toldoth
Jeshua," a refutation of the book under that name,
1883; "A Short Rabbinic Commentary on the whole
of the New Testament," published gradually. Lichtenstein
also translated the whole of the Old Testament
into Yiddish for the British and Foreign Bible
Society, of which parts have appeared.
Lichtenstein, Johann Daniel, son of the above, who
was baptized in his youth, became afterwards a very
devoted Pastor in Frankfort. It is recorded that he
displayed self-sacrificing activity, especially among
the sick and the prisoners. He died in 1862, and in
allusion to his name "Lightstone," the people said of
him that "he was a light which consumed itself."
Lichtenstein, Moritz, born 1824, embraced Christianity
in 1842 together with his mother and brothers
and sisters. Moritz became a preacher of the Gospel
in 1855, and died 1876.
Lichtenstein, Rabbi J., is one of the most remarkable
converts to Christianity in the nineteenth century.
The story is briefly this: Finding one day a New
Testament in the school under his charge, he took it
away, and hid it in his library. Then during an anti-Semitic
agitation in Hungary he, thinking that there
must be something in the teaching of the New Testament,
which excited enmity against the Jews, examined
it carefully, and was convinced of the contrary,
and more, he began to admire and to love the Lord
Jesus, and gradually to quote passages from the New
Testament in his sermons in the synagogue of Tapio
Szele, of which he had been minister for forty years.
He also wrote three pamphlets—"Der Talmud auf
der Anklage Bank," Budapesth, 1866; "Mein
Zeugniss," 1886; "Die Liebe und die Bekehrung,
ein sehr ernstes wort zu sehr ernster Zeit." At
last some of his congregation accused him to the
chief rabbi of Budapest of heterodoxy. Rabbi
Lichtenstein then confessed his faith in Jesus Christ
crucified. The result was that he had to resign his
office, and to the end of his life he lived as a Christian,
constantly preaching the Gospel in Pesth though not
baptized. He died in the Lord in 1908.
Lipschitz, Benjamin, a convert to Christianity, died
1876, in Vienna, leaving to the inhabitants of his
birthplace, Kriegshaber, near Augsburg, 70,000
gulden, to be equally divided between Jews and
Christians. Besides this he bequeathed 35,000
gulden to the Jewish Congregation of Augsburg,
100,000 gulden for the Jewish Home at Munich, and
100,000 gulden for the Jewish Home at Vienna.
Lipshytz, Christlieb T., Director of the Barbican
Mission to the Jews, London. Born in 1858 at
Warsaw, the capital of Poland, he was brought up in
strict Judaism, according to the principles of his
orthodox Jewish parents. It was essential that he
should undergo a Talmudical Jewish training, and in
addition he was given a thorough secular education.
When he was five years of age, his eldest sister
became a Christian, and for this she endured severe
persecution. Her testimony made a deep impression
on the mind of her brother, and awakened a desire in
his heart to know what it was that Christianity really
taught. So strong was this desire that while at the
secular high school in his native city, he embraced
every possible opportunity of listening to the religious
instruction given to the Gentile pupils. For this he
was chastised by his father, but the severe punishment
inflicted was of no avail, for the Spirit of God had
directed the message of the Gospel home to his heart,
and within a short time he surrendered to the Lord.
The bitter persecution through which his sister had
passed was a vivid and painful memory, and it is not
surprising that Lipshytz hesitated to incur the same
suffering by making a public confession in his native
place. Eventually he went away to Königsberg.
Here, after a course of instruction by a missionary of
the London Jews' Society (Mr. Skolkowski) and the
Rev. Konsistorialrath Dr. Kahle, he was baptized on
the 19th October, 1878. After further study and
preparation he worked under the auspices of the home
mission in the North of Germany, and afterwards in
connexion with the mission among Jews in the West
of Germany. Coming to England, Mr. Lipshytz was
for some time superintendent of the Wanderers'
Home, under the direction of the late Rev. J. M.
Eppstein. At the close of 1887 he became assistant
missionary to the Rev. Paul Warschawski. When the
latter relinquished the mission on account of failing
health, the work was in danger of coming to an
untimely end. At this crisis Prebendary Gordon
Calthrop, who became the first President, called together
a number of friends, with the result that Mr.
Lipshytz was asked to undertake the re-organization
of the work. After prayerful consideration, the
invitation was accepted. For two years and a-half the
mission was housed in London Wall, thence a removal
was made to larger premises in Finsbury
Square, which were occupied for seven years. From
the first, Mr. Lipshytz exercised remarkable tact and
ability, and it became increasingly evident that under
his able direction the mission was destined to become
a powerful agency in proclaiming the Gospel to the
Jews and winning their allegiance to Christ. Prebendary
Gordon Calthrop had now passed to his rest,
and Archdeacon Sinclair succeeded as President, to be
followed after a time by Prebendary H. W. Webb-Peploe,
a life-long friend of Israel. With his unfailing
energy and enthusiasm, Mr. Lipshytz set about
raising a memorial to the memory of the first
President of the mission, and in this he had from
the first the hearty co-operation of the devoted
men who formed his council. The outcome was
the erection of the perfectly equipped and commodious
headquarters of the Barbican Mission
situated on the main thoroughfare of Whitechapel,
and known as "The Gordon Calthrop Memorial,"
which was dedicated and opened in the spring of 1901.
Besides the mission house and church, the property
includes a spacious open-air preaching ground, with a
stone pulpit. The entire scheme involved an outlay
of £13,000, the whole of which sum was soon raised.
Having succeeded in this matter, Mr. Lipshytz realized
the necessity for providing a Home for Converts and
Enquirers, and a permanent residence for the head of
the mission. This he was also able to accomplish,
and the Home at Mitcham, which cost £3,500,
was soon freed from debt. With all his undertakings
Mr. Lipshytz was careful to see that the
spiritual work of the mission was not neglected.
"First things" were given first place: hence the
mission abundantly prospered in his hands.
Löbel, Carl Friedrich Raphael, a native of Lissa,
in Prussian Poland, was baptized by Pastor
Hasselman in Soran, in 1825. He studied Pedagogy,
became a very effective schoolmaster, and wrote:—
"Gebete für die Schule," 1836; "Erklärungen der
Episteln," 1859. He founded a Rescue Home, and
died in 1869.
Lobgott, Abraham Meyer (sometimes called
Gottlob), a native of Posen, was instructed and
baptized by Pastor Schultz in Berlin in 1769. He
studied theology in Halle. He translated Elias
Levita's "Massoreth ha Massorah," which Dr. Semler
published in 1773. He also translated the first
three chapters of Mendelssohn's Judæo-German
Pentateuch into German, Erlangen, 1786. He
published in 1775, during the time of his studies,
"Sententiae Rabb. de successione ab intestato et
testimentaria collectae a R. Joseph Karo" (Schulchan
Aruch).
Lopes, Sir Manasseh Massey, Bart., was born in
Jamaica in 1755, and died 1838. He belonged to the
Sephardim Jews. Both he and his father Mordecai
Rodriguez Lopes embraced Christianity in 1802. In
that year Manasseh was returned to Parliament as
member for New Romney and was created a baronet
in 1805. At the next election, he was returned as
member for Barnstaple, and lastly, for Westbury,
where he held also the office of Recorder, in addition
to being a magistrate for two counties.
Lotka, Rev. J., a native of Russian Poland, where
he was brought up by his parents in strict orthodoxy,
but as he arrived at the age of discretion, he somehow
managed to study, besides Hebrew and the Talmud,
the Polish and the German languages. Becoming
acquainted with much Christian literature he had
a great desire to read the New Testament, and this
led him to give up the position of a Jewish teacher
and to come to London for the purpose of receiving
further Christian instruction by Dr. Ewald, who
baptized him on November 22, 1863. About two
years later he went from the Operative Jewish Converts'
Institution to Basel, studied theology, and was sent
out to labour as a Pastor among the Germans in
Illinois, U.S.A. In 1879 he was appointed Professor
of Hebrew in an Episcopal Seminary near
Chicago, where he did also missionary work
among the Jews. In 1872, he joined the L.J.S.
and was sent to Lemberg, where he laboured for ten
years, and visited many towns in Galicia. In 1881,
after he had been on a tour of enquiry with the Rev.
Frederick Smith in the Crimea, he was sent to Persia,
where he remained from two to three years, and laid,
so to speak, a solid foundation for the revived
mission there. He subsequently laboured for a few
years at Posen and Bucharest, and much longer in
Birmingham, and then succeeded the Rev. J. C. S.
Kroenig at Hull. He was the author of several
tracts.
Löwe, H. G. F., a Hebrew Christian living in
Hamburg. With a view to make known, both to Jews,
and Christians, the nature of rabbinic Judaism, he wrote
the following works:—1. A translation of the first
chapter of Berachoth (Benedictions), with preface,
introduction, and three appendices, 1836. 2. A
translation of four parts of the Shulchan Aruch Aben
Ezra, Hoshen Hamishpat, Orach Hayim and Yoreh
Deah, 1836-1840.
Löwen, Moses Gotthold (Pseudon, Hananiah
Berliner), was born August 8, 1859, just at the time
when his father, dressed in mourning, was sitting on
the floor in the synagogue, bewailing the destruction
of Jerusalem. When the father returned home, a
near relative presented him with his firstborn son. His
parents educated him after the manner of orthodox
Jews, and he studied diligently the Talmud and the
"Shulchan Aruch," but very little the Old Testament.
When the boy was fifteen years of age, he was
employed by the rabbi of Sombar, in Galicia, as
a copyist, and for this he received from him instruction
in rabbinical writings, in the Bible, and in
religious philological literature. This distinguished
savant, Joshua Hullas by name, was liberal-minded
and exercised a salutary influence upon the boy. Later
on he perceived the untenableness of the rabbinic
views of the world, and gave up the idea of becoming
a rabbi as his parents wished. He then devoted himself
to commerce, but found no pleasure in it. Then he
met the Rev. J. Lotka, missionary of the L.J.S. at
Lemberg, and for the first time learned to know the
New Testament and other Christian literature; and
after an inward struggle, lasting ten years, in which
the late Professor Franz Delitzsch encouraged him to
persevere, he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and
became His faithful disciple. He was admitted into the
Church of Christ by baptism, by the Rev. P. E. Gottheil,
in Stuttgart, in 1886. Two years later he entered
the service of the Berlin Society for Promoting
Christianity among the Jews, under whom for years he
laboured with great blessing upon his efforts. Löwen's
work was mostly of a literary character. In 1888, he
wrote a useful booklet in Yiddish, entitled "Siach
l'Elohim," through which he introduced the jargon of
the Eastern Jews into Christian literature. A year
later he joined Chr. Theophilus Lucky, in editing the
Hebrew monthly periodical, "Eduth l'Israel." This
was and remained the first Jewish Christian periodical
in the sacred language. He worked at this difficult
post for only two years, but continued in co-operation
with Professor Dalman for fifteen years in the
publication of his monthly Yiddish periodical,
"Berith Am." He also contributed numerous articles,
poems, narratives, etc., to "Nathanael" and to
"Messiasbote," publications of the Berlin Society. On
Löwen's suggestion, the International Jewish Missionary
Conference at Leipzig in 1897, resolved to offer a
prize for a life of Christ in Yiddish. Amongst the
competitors was the well-known Joseph Rabinowitz,
but the umpires, Professor Strack and the Rev. A.
Bernstein, adjudged the prize to Löwen's work, which
is entitled "Podeh Umazil," which has found great
acceptance among the Jews. In 1901 a collection of
essays appeared from his pen, under the title, "Brod
und Salz" (bread and salt), which was gladly read.
He also brought out a series of booklets entitled
"Orchim," which was of the greatest missionary
value. Löwen was stationed in Berlin, Lemberg,
Posen, and Vienna, where he continued to testify
to the Jews of the unsearchable riches of Christ,
and the Lord crowned his work with success,
in that he was permitted to witness a spirit of
enquiry among the Jews, not a few of whom acknowledged
Him as their Lord and Saviour through
his labours.
Löwenthal, Rev. Isidor, a native of Posen, where
he received a liberal education, finishing his studies at
the Gymnasium at the age of seventeen. His father
wished him to enter into business, but he had no taste
for such a life. With companions of the same age,
he founded a liberal political union, and owing to a
poem of a radical character, which he recited in
public, he was arrested by the police. For this
reason he emigrated to New York in 1846. On his
arrival he tried to get employment, but failed.
He was then obliged to become a pedlar. One cold
November day he offered his goods to the Rev. S. M.
Gayley, of Wilmington, Delaware, who, noticing his
poor plight, invited him to his house, where in
conversation he soon learned that Löwenthal was well
educated. He then offered him hospitality until he
should find a situation as teacher of German
and French. This he procured for him in Fayette
College at Easton, Pa., in 1847. There Löwenthal
was indefatigable in his studies of the English
language and literature. His iron will and his
excellent memory enabled him soon to overcome all
difficulties. Hitherto he had not revealed to Mr.
Gayley his Jewish nationality, but now he not only
did this but also told him that the family prayers
and the services which he had attended had led him to
study the Scriptures, and that he was convinced of
the truth of Christianity. He was then baptized by
Mr. Gayley in the Presbyterian Church. In 1848
he became teacher of languages at Mount Holly
Collegiate School, where he remained several years.
Mr. Philipps, of the First Presbyterian Church, New
York, advised him to study for the ministry, and he
entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New
Jersey in 1852. During his course there he contributed
articles to the "Biblical Repository." When
about to leave the Seminary, he gave a lecture on
Indian missions and then offered his services to the
Board of Foreign Missions. The Board sent him in
1856 to Afghanistan. He acquired the language in
one year, so that he could preach in it fluently; but
he was only permitted to labour there seven years.
During this short time he translated the whole of
the New Testament in Pushtu and printed it, and
compiled a dictionary of that language which he
left in manuscript. He preached easily in five
languages, and none knew the East better than he
did. He possessed the largest collection of Asiatic
MSS. and rare books that ever was the lot of a
European. He was beloved by the natives and
Europeans alike. Sir John Lawrence, especially
during the mutiny, consulted him as a friend. He
preached uninterruptedly in Afghanistan and in the
Khyber Pass. At the last, he was shot dead by his own
servant, it is said through a mistake, who, seeing him
walking on the roof at night, took him for a thief.
This was in 1864, when he was only thirty-eight.
Lowitz, Rev. J., laboured for years as a missionary of
the British Society at Algiers, where he also acted as
agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society. In
1872 he succeeded Davidsohn as principal of the
British Society's Home for Converts and Enquirers, at
28, Alfred Place, Bedford Square, London.
Lucky, Rev. C. Theophilus, a native of Tisminitz,
in Galicia, and a most remarkable convert to Christianity
in the nineteenth century. He was known
not only as a great Hebrew scholar, writing Hebrew
in classical style as a living language, and as
thoroughly conversant with the whole range of
Jewish literature, but also as possessing a wide
knowledge of Christian literature. Having studied
at the Berlin University and High School for the
knowledge of Judaism, and making researches in
philosophical and religious subjects, he was led
to become a believer. Lucky received Evangelical
ordination in New York. In 1887 he first
published a Hebrew periodical, "Eduth le Israel,"
which he continued for some years, when he returned
to Galicia and took up his residence in Stanislau.
There he lived and laboured among his brethren,
preaching by the written and spoken word, but above
all by his example, scarcely receiving any help from
men. He was a living illustration of a Hebrew
Christian of the first century; though thoroughly
Orthodox as to the cardinal doctrines of Christianity,
yet he believed that it was incumbent upon him to
observe the Jewish Sabbath and all other Jewish
festivals and the dietary laws, not for the sake
of being justified by the works of the law, but for
the sake of satisfying his own conscience, and that he
might be more useful as an evangelist amongst his
brethren in Galicia.
Maas, Dr. M., was a teacher at Breslau
in the nineteenth century, and wrote the following
works, advocating amalgamation of the Jews
with Christians: "Die Sociale Stellung der
Juden in Deutschland und das Ceremonial Gesetz,"
Löbau, 1876; "Die Mischehe das Einzig wirksame
mittel einer dauernden Vereinigung zwischen der
jüdischen und christlichen Bevölkerung Deutschland's,"
ib.
Mackhan, Beatus Christian (Nehemiah Cohen),
after having travelled in three continents, and held
the office of Rabbi at Avignon embraced Christianity,
in the Baltic Provinces in 1672. In 1690 he
published in the German language: "Schriftmässiger
Jesus—Palmbaum oder Klarer Beweissthum wider
die Juden, dass Jesus der wahre Messias sei" (Riga),
Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraica 3. N., 1648.
Magath, Rev. Julius, some time after his baptism
became Professor in the Wesleyan College in Oxford
(Georgia, U.S.A.) Later on he was requested by the
Conference to do missionary work among the Jews. In
1886 he published a periodical entitled, "The Hebrew
Missionary," and this was changed in 1888 to "The
Hebrew Messenger." He also translated a treatise,
written by the Roman Catholic Jewish convert
M. M. Leman, entitled, "Jesus before the Sanhedrin,"
1887.
Maimuny, Rabbi Mordecai, was born at Bona,
Algeria, in 1817. His father was a well-to-do goldsmith,
who had settled in Tunis in 1823, where Maimuny
received a strict rabbinical education. When Dr.
Ewald was stationed at Tunis, Maimuny was his great
opponent and used to blaspheme the name of Jesus.
Later on he went to Jerusalem, where his fanaticism
became more excited when he observed the activity
of Bishop Alexander. However, the bishop's calm
and gentle disposition made a great impression upon
him, and he received a Hebrew New Testament,
which he studied diligently and became a changed
man. His wife seeing that he visited Nicolayson and
the other missionaries was very angry with him. To
pacify her, and in the hope that she would change
her mind, he left Jerusalem with her, and they
wandered through Asia, North Africa, and Europe, and
then returned to Jerusalem, where he had to undergo
great persecution, and was obliged to return to his
native place. Finally, in 1853, he was baptized by the
Scotch missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Weiss.
Mamlock, L. C, a native of Kalisch, was instructed
and baptized by Dr. Ewald in 1863. After being in
the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution for some
considerable time, Dr. Ewald employed him as his
assistant, and he became a parochial lay reader.
Subsequently he was appointed by the L.J.S. as
missionary in Manchester, and was transferred to
Paris after the Franco-German war. There he
laboured faithfully the rest of his life, spreading the
Gospel far and wide during several exhibitions, and
had the privilege to see many sons and daughters
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for their
salvation.
Marcus, Moses, born in London, 1701, was sent by
his father to Hamburg for his education. There he
had intercourse with Christians, read the New Testament,
and came to a saving knowledge of the truth.
In 1721 his father returned to England from India,
where he had amassed a fortune, and summoned him
to come home. Marcus then told his father of his
religious convictions, when the latter was shocked,
and threatened to disinherit him if he should be
baptized; he once even threw a long knife at him.
Marcus, however, persevered and was baptized in 1723.
In 1724 he wrote a pamphlet entitled, "Principal
Motives to leave the Jewish Faith." In defence of
Christianity, against the then prevalent rationalism, he
translated into English the second part of Dr. J.
Gottlob Carpzov's "Critica Sacra," adding his own
notes (London, 1729).
Marcusohn, Rev. J. W., was sent by the Scotch
Church as a missionary to Constantinople, at the
request of the American Board of Missions, in 1859.
He subsequently preached the Gospel to the Jews
in the United States of America.
Margoliouth, Ezekiel, was a very remarkable man,
a typical Jew, and a typical convert to Christianity.
As an Hebraist he was equal to any of his day. He
had a profound knowledge of the Talmud, rare even
amongst Talmudists. It was, however, in the composition
of modern Hebrew that his chief talent lay,
and competent scholars often spoke enthusiastically
of the elegance of his rabbinic writings. Like his
namesake, Dr. Moses Margoliouth, he was a native of
Suwalki in Poland, where he was born in November
1816. His father, Abraham, had been thirty-three
years chief rabbi of the town, and his mother could
trace twelve rabbis amongst her ancestors. It was
natural that Ezekiel should study the Talmud and
practise all the precepts of the rabbis with the utmost
vigour. After he had become bar mitzvah, he studied
with his father, and later on went to Brody, in order to
perfect himself in rabbinic lore. There he met enlightened
Jews, and often disputed with R. Solomon Kluger.
He began to study the Bible, and philosophical works
in Hebrew, like those of Maimonides; his desire
for knowledge being fostered under Michael Perl
of Tarnopol, the first Jewish reformer in Galicia.
Later on he went to the rabbinical seminary at
Warsaw, where he first met missionaries of the L.J.
Society, through whom he was irresistibly drawn to
Christ, His Person, and His teachings. At the age of
twenty-seven he confessed faith in Christ as his Saviour,
though his wife, whom he had married the previous
year, for a long time refused to become a Christian.
He then came over to England, where she afterwards
joined him, and in 1848, also became a Christian.
In the same year he entered the Operative Jewish
Converts' Institution to learn bookbinding. In
1852 he was appointed a missionary of the L.J.S. in
London, and worked as such almost to the end of his
life. It was not as a popular preacher that he excelled,
though his faith in, and knowledge of, the Word of
God always profoundly attracted his audiences. His
chief labours were literary, and in these he had no
rival. His "Derech Emunah" and "Nethivoth Olam,"
in Hebrew, are masterpieces. His greatest work was
the revision of the New Testament in Hebrew in
1865. On May 2, 1894, he passed away in a gentle
and peaceful death, greatly mourned both for himself
and for the loss of his learning and piety. His son is
the Rev. Professor David S. Margoliouth, D.Lit.,
Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford University,
and examining chaplain to the Bishop of Liverpool.
Margoliouth, Rev. George, a nephew of Dr. Moses
Margoliouth, was converted to Christianity at Strassburg.
He studied philology at the University of Bonn,
and theology at Cuddesdon College, was ordained in
1881-1883, held the curacy of St. Thomas', Leeds, when
he was also missionary of the Parochial Missions to the
Jews; then at Carleton, Yorks., 1883-84; then again
missionary curate of Holy Trinity, Stepney, 1884-87;
then at St. Mary the Less, Cambridge, 1887-89; St.
Botolph, Cambridge, 1889-91, when he took his
degree in Semitic languages, at Queen's College. He
is the author of "Descriptive List of the Hebrew
and Samaritan MSS. in the British Museum," 1893;
"The Superlinear Punctuation," 1893; "The Liturgy
of the Nile, Palestinian, Syriac and English," 1896;
"The Palestinian Syriac Version of Holy Scripture,
four recently Discovered Portions," 1896. He also
contributed valuable articles to the "Jewish Quarterly
Review."
Margoliouth, Rev. Dr. Moses, was born at Suwalki
in 1820, and died in London, 1881. He was no relation
to Ezekiel Margoliouth, though from the same town.
Coming to Liverpool in 1837 he met the missionaries
of the L.J.S., Lazarus and Rev. H. S. Joseph, and
as a result of intercourse with them he was baptized
in 1838. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in
1840, and became curate of St. Augustine, Liverpool,
January 30, 1844. Much later he was curate of St.
Paul's, Onslow Square, London, and lastly, Vicar of
Little Limford, Buckinghamshire. He took the degree
of Ph.D. at Erlangen in 1857. In 1847 he started a
Hebrew Christian monthly magazine entitled, "The
Star of Jacob." In the seventies he was editor of "The
Hebrew Christian Witness." He also wrote the following
works, all published in London: "Modern Judaism"
(1843), "The History of the Jews of Great Britain"
(1851), "A Pilgrimage to the Land of my Fathers"
(1855), "The Curates of Riverdale"(1860), "The Spirit
of Prophecy" (1864), "The Poetry of the Hebrew Pentateuch"
(1871). Margoliouth was one of the revisers
of the English version of the Old Testament. He
wrote also a considerable number of minor works.
Margoliouth, Naphtali, baptized in 1603 under the
name of Konrad Otto, became professor of Hebrew in
Altorf. He wrote "Grammatica Hebraica" (Nurnberg,
1605), a part of a "Dictionarium radicale" of rabbinic
and Talmudic words, "Gale Razia or Revelatio
arcanorum ex Daniel ii. 29," in Latin and German.
Markheim, H. A., was one of the most gifted
missionaries of the L.J.S. in the nineteenth century.
As a great linguist he suitably occupied the following
stations: In 1840, he succeeded Lewis at Smyrna;
in 1850, he laboured at Oran and Tangier; in
1860, at Gibraltar; in 1863, at Turin; from 1861-63,
at Marseilles, and then until the siege of Paris by the
Germans, he laboured there. He died in 1889.
Maria was born of English Jewish parents, in
affluent circumstances. When yet a child she fell down
a steep flight of stairs and seriously injured her spine,
so that she became a permanent invalid. A Christian
lady used to visit her, and got permission to read to
her the Psalms. She asked her father to buy her a
Bible, who instead of doing so bought her some
narratives, but seeing her disappointment, complied
with her request. From this Bible, which contained
the New Testament, she learned to know and to
love the Saviour, believing that Jesus made a perfect
atonement for her sins. Becoming gradually feebler
and losing her sight, she said to Miss P. that she
enjoyed great tranquillity of mind, and had learned
to understand Isaiah xxvi. 3, "Thou wilt keep him
in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee."
Prayer was never a weariness to her. She influenced her
sister to read to her the Bible. She then bore witness
from her sick bed to the faith which was the source
of her calm resignation and happiness before those
friends, both Jews and Gentiles, who visited her. When
her life drew to a close, she said to her father: "Dear
father, I have one request to make; remember! it is
my dying request, the last favour I shall ever ask
you, father." With much kindness he enquired,
"What is it, my dear?" "It is, father, that you will
consent to my baptism." "No, Maria, I cannot do
that, you were born a Jewess and you must die one."
"Father! that is impossible, for I am a Christian.
I believe that Jesus is the Saviour and without Him
we should perish everlastingly." She then explained
that by being a Christian she had not ceased to be
a Jewess. She was then permitted to receive both
sacraments from the curate of the parish. Before
her death she said to her brother: "My dear
brother, be good, and never, never despise the
Messiah Jesus Christ. I am going to heaven, and
may I not hope to meet you there? I have prayed for
you and all my family, and it is my belief the Lord
will answer my prayers, and shew His salvation to you
all." (Jewish Intelligence, October, 1841).
Marks, J. D., a convert was at first in 1819. It was
owing to his influence that a missionary society in
Switzerland was founded. This is emphasized in a
letter from Basel to the L.J.S. in 1820, whose
missionary he then was. At that time there seems
to have been an important movement among the
Jews of Frankfort and its neighbourhood towards
Christianity, in which he was to some extent instrumental,
and the result was that in three years ninety
Jews embraced Christianity. He died as missionary
at Offenbach in 1841.
Marks, Rev. John Ebenezer, D.D., of Canterbury,
1879, laboured as a missionary at Moulmein, India,
1863-67; as Chaplain at Rangoon, 1867-68; Irrawaddy,
1869 and 1876-83; Mandalay, 1869-76; Tavoy and
Mergui, 1883; as missionary of the S.P.G. and Principal
of St. John's College, Rangoon, from 1876-96.
Marx, Adolf Bernard, was born in Halle in 1779.
From his youth he was very fond of music, and Handel's
"Messiah" led him to become a Christian. His father,
though indifferent to religion, was very angry with
him, and he was obliged to prosecute his studies of law
and music under great deprivations. He finally
became a judge at Wittemberg, but he had more
taste for music than for the law. He then relinquished
his office and went to Berlin, and devoted
himself entirely to the study of music. He made there
the acquaintance of the English musician Logier, and
got from him some new ideas, which he was not
slow to put into practice. In 1837, he published a
work on the principles of harmony. He did much for
the proper understanding of Beethoven, Sebastian Bach,
and Glück. He is said to have been the founder of
modern musical literature. He died in 1866.
Marx, Karl, born at Treves, in 1818. He was
baptized with his father, his brother, and five sisters
in 1824. In 1842, he became editor of "Reinische
Zeitung für Politik, Handel, und Gewerbe." In 1843,
he published at Paris, "Zür Kritik der Hegelschen
Rechts Philosophie." In 1848 he edited the "Neue
Rheinische Zeitung." He is known as the founder of
the political theory called Socialism, and on account of
that he came in conflict with several governments, and
he sought refuge in England. He married the sister
of the minister, von Westphal. She died in 1881, and
he also passed away in 1883, in London.
Massena. All that is known about him is a tract,
published at Strassburg, in 1859, entitled "Massena
ein Wahrer Israelite oder die Kraft Gottes."
Massiah, Rev. J. P., was curate of Holy Trinity,
Stepney, in 1883, when he received some Jews into
the Church.
Mathai (Shimon), Adam Rudolf George Christoph,
was born at Fürth, Germany in 1715, and was instructed
in the Talmud by his father Jaidel, a teacher in the Beth-hamedrash
there. At the age of sixteen, he went to
Prague to continue his studies, and on returning home
he, too, became a Talmudic teacher. Just then he
narrates, in the preface of his "Description of the
Jewish Sabbath": "When I considered the corruption
among my people, doubts arose in my mind about
the rabbinic system of religion, and I began to study
its doctrines, rites and ceremonies, and found that they
did not agree with the Word of God." The name
Jeshua sar happanim, in the service for the New Year,
struck him as very mysterious, and he began to
enquire as to which of the angels this name referred.
At last, after long enquiry, he became convinced of
the divine origin of Christianity and applied to a
pastor in Fürth for baptism in 1748. However,
on account of the commotion created among the
Jews, he went to Nürnberg, where he was baptized
the same year.
Matthews, Rev. Aaron, after embracing Christianity
with his wife, was appointed a missionary of the British
Society in London in 1867, where he laboured
successfully for some years. Then he accepted a call
to be minister of a Baptist Chapel in Liverpool, which
position he only held for a few years. Then he opened
a mission to the Jews at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and
afterwards laboured amongst them in Glasgow with
considerable blessing on his labours, attracting the
Jews by his fervent and devotional spirit as well as
his Hebrew learning.
Mayer, Samuel Morum, was born in 1797 at
Friedenthal; and died in 1862. His father was a
rabbi, his grandfather was appointed by King Friedrich
grand rabbi, who gave the grandson a good
Jewish education, so that at the age of ten he could
repeat the Psalter in Hebrew with Mendelssohn's
translation. A pastor also privately taught him
classics. He was then sent to a Talmud School,
but the Talmud did not satisfy his thirst for useful,
solid knowledge, so he sent a petition to the King
asking for permission to enter the Gymnasium. This
was granted in 1815. He studied there and subsequently
became a celebrated lawyer. Government
offices were offered him on condition of his embracing
Christianity, which he repeatedly refused, but held
a professorship unconditionally. However, he investigated
the doctrines of Christianity himself, and was
baptized in 1834. He was then persecuted by his
relations, but he rendered them good for evil. The
following is a list of his works in their chronological
order; with one exception they were published at
Nürnberg. "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Sabbath,"
1750; "Die Verderbniss des heutigen Judenthums,"
1752; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Neujahrfestes,"
1755; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Purimfestes,"
1758; "Beschreibung des Jüdischen Yom Kippur,"
1760; "Sammlung Talmudisches Lehrsätze,"
Schwabach, 1763; "Abhandlung von der Verleumdung,"
1765; "Sendschreiben an Rabbi Peloni aus
der Stadt Lo-Theda," 1766; "Kurzgefaste Talmudische
Lehrsätze von der Nothwendigkeit sich in den
Ehestand zu begeben," no date; "Beweis von der
Uebereinstimmung der alten Israelitischen Kabbalah
mit der Lehre des Apostel Paulus," no date;
"Beweisgrunde von der Uebereinstimmung der Altjüdischen
Lehre mit der Lehre der Christen," 1770;
"Kristliche gesinnte Erklärung der Kabbalisten über
das Hohelied," 1776.
Mayer, Rev. W., was educated both in the school
and college of the L.J.S. in London. In 1855, he
succeeded his brother-in-law, the Rev. A. I. Behrens, at
Jassy, where he was assistant missionary for some
time previously. He had there a most flourishing
school, containing about 300 scholars. Mayer, who
was a very intellectual man, was somewhat affected
by the criticism on the Bible by Bishop Colenso,
and he also was of the opinion that the Jews ought
to have their own Christian Church. This led to his
severance from the Society. He, however, remained
in Jassy all his life, and revised the Roumanian Bible
for the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Mendelssohn, Abraham, second son of Moses
Mendelssohn the philosopher, was born in Berlin in
1779. In 1804, he married Leah, a sister of Jacob
Levi Solomon Bartholdi. The latter having become
a Protestant Christian in 1805, influenced his sister
and brother-in-law to follow his example. Whilst his
father had resisted the arguments and persuasion of
Lavater to take this step, he declared:—"Formerly I
was the son of my father, now I am the father of my
son." Accordingly, he had his children—Felix, Fanny,
Rebecca, and Paul—baptized in the Evangelical
Church, under the additional name of Bartholdi.
Mendelssohn, Dorothea, a daughter of the philosopher
Felix, became a Protestant in Paris in 1802.
Mendelssohn, Felix Bartholdi, was born at Hamburg,
February 3, 1809, and died 1857. When he was
four years old his parents removed to Berlin. His father
at once procured teachers in music for him, as he had
begun thus early to show great talent in that direction.
His teachers on the piano were Louis Bezer, and
Zelter, the friend of Goethe. The chapel choirmaster,
Mr. Hennings, gave him instruction on the violin.
The father of the poet, Paul Heyse, who later became
the celebrated philologist, was his private tutor in the
home of the Mendelssohns, where the intellectual aristocracy
of Berlin frequently assembled. When Felix
was nine years old he appeared for the first time at a
public concert, where his remarkable performances
won him great applause. Two years later, we find him
in a Berlin Musical Academy, where he studied church
music under Zelter's direction. When he was twelve
years old, Zelter placed him in the Olympic in Weimar,
where he made remarkable progress. When he was
fourteen, we find him a guest at Goethe's house, and
his host wrote thus to Zelter:—"Felix's productions
astonish everybody." No one was more delighted at
the boy's success than his father, who took pride in
gratifying his son's every wish regarding his musical
education, and the latter's diligence amply rewarded
any outlay. Before Felix was out of his teens he
had written four operas. His father accompanied
him to Paris, where he had the education of the best
teachers of the time. Soon after he went to London,
where he wrote an original overture founded upon
Shakespere's "Midsummer Night's Dream," which attracted
the attention of the celebrated singer, Henrietta
Sonntag, and won a great triumph for its composer—he
was then twenty years old. He became a member
of a Philharmonic Society. He spent some time
in Rome, where he composed "Die Walpinges
nacht," and arranged the one hundred and
fifteenth psalm to music. He also visited Naples.
This Italian town made a lasting impression upon his
mind. He played before many of the crowned heads
of Europe. King Frederick William IV. of Prussia
was greatly interested in the young composer, and
employed him to write the music for the "Tragedy of
Sophocles." His success greatly excited the jealousy
of the older musicians, but the King became his dearest
friend. Mendelssohn played in 1841 before Queen
Victoria. He thus described the occasion in a letter
to his "dear little mother." "I asked Prince Albert,
the Queen's husband, to play something on the organ
for me. He complied. His playing—so beautiful
and perfect—many an organist might have envied him.
Then I played and sang my chorus from "St. Paul,"
"How beautiful are the messengers." When I had
finished the first stanza, the Queen and Prince Albert
joined in the singing. The Queen asked if I had any
new compositions; if so, she would gladly have them
printed. We went into her salon, where there was a
piano. I played and sang again. She praised my
playing and singing, and when I bade them adieu
said: 'I hope you will soon visit us in England again.'"
This brilliant career was speedily cut short. The
death of his dearly beloved sister Fanny, in the spring
of 1847, affected him seriously. All his compositions
thereafter were melancholy. He became nervous
and irritable. He could not apply himself to his work,
but would sit for hours with his hands folded. After
a brief illness he died on November 4, 1857, when he
was only thirty-six. Three days after, he was carried
to his grave by the side of his sister Fanny Hensel,
in Trinity Cemetery, Berlin. Felix Mendelssohn was a
favourite of the German people—a musical genius like
Weber and Schubert. He put his whole life and soul
into his work. His early death confirms Neander's
words—also a Hebrew Christian—"Whom the gods
love die young." God gave him a musical gift, which
he delighted to use for His glory.
Mendelssohn, Henrietta, daughter of the banker,
Alexander Mendelssohn, was baptized in Berlin
in 1822.
Mendelssohn, Nathan, the third son of Moses
Mendelssohn, was born in 1782. In 1809, he was baptized
by the Reformed Pastor Petiscus, assuming the
name of Carl Theodor Nathanael Mendelssohn. He
became a mechanic by profession, and was at the head
of a large industry in Silesia. He was a sincere
Christian, and took an interest in missionary work
among the Jews. He requested the missionaries of
the L.J.S. in 1826 to supply him with Bibles for distribution
among his workmen. He died in Berlin in
1852.
Mensor, Rev. Dr. Meyer, studied theology in Berlin,
where he received the degree of D.D. in 1846. He
was subsequently chief rabbi of Chicago. After embracing
Christianity, he was ordained by the Archbishop
of York in 1861-2. After holding several
curacies in the North of England, he was appointed
Vicar of Stoke Mandeville in 1879, where he preached
the Gospel for many years, and took a great interest
in missions to the Jews.
Meyer, Friedrich Christian, born in Hamburg in the
second half of the seventeenth century, died in
Belgium about 1738. After having been baptized at
Bremen, he became a missionary and travelled for
thirty years. He was the author of the following
works: (1) "Licht zu Erleuchten die Juden,"
exalting the glory of Christ (Leipzig, 1711). (2)
"Meirath Enayim," a pamphlet written in German, in
which the author drew a parallel between Moses
and Christ, shewing the supremacy of the latter
(Amsterdam, 1713). (3) "Der Abscheuliche Mord
Christi," in which he endeavoured to demonstrate that
the duration of the exile of the Jews can be attributed
only to the Crucifixion of our Lord, Hamburg, 1719.
(4) "Vera Immanuelis Generatio," written in Hebrew,
and demonstrating the Deity of Jesus from the
prophets, especially from Isaiah vii. 14.
Meyer, Hermann Edward, was born in Gross Glogau
in Germany, 1796, and converted in 1817; he studied in
Halle, and became professor of law and philology in
Greifswald and in Halle. He wrote mostly about
Greek laws, "Attischen Process," Halle, 1824. In
1828 he became editor of the "Allgemeine Literatur
Zeitung," and especially contributed to the "Allgemeine
Encyklopædie" of Ersch and Grüber. He
died in 1855.
Meyer, Rev. Jonas Theodor, was born in Crivitz, a
small town in Mecklenberg, January 30, 1819, and died
in New Jersey, March 14, 1896. His early Hebrew
education he received from a Polish Jew in the
Cheder, and then he was sent to relatives in Schwerin,
where he studied in the Gymnasium, so that at the
age of fifteen he was in the first class. As far as
religion is concerned, he was taught to fear God, but
he knew very little of the love of God, so that he
only lived to appease the divine wrath by ascetic
practices and good works. This did not satisfy his
soul, and he resorted to worldly pleasures, but neither
did he find satisfaction in them. At this juncture he
met with the writings of R. S. Hirsch, the then leader
of orthodoxy, and with those of mystic Plessner, which
awakened him somewhat from his spiritual slumber.
He then began to study the Scriptures, and trusted to
God's grace and mercy for the pardon of his sins, yet
he found no peace. Thereupon he came in contact
with Dr. Holdheimer, the leader of the Reformed Jews,
and by him was appointed teacher in Schwerin, in
1841, and subsequently recommended as Reformed
rabbi to a congregation in Butzow. But the Reform
movement at that time went to extremes. The rabbis
denied the belief in the Messiah at a congress, from
which Meyer dissented. He was placed in a predicament
between the extremes of Orthodoxy and Reform,
in neither of which he could observe vital religion, so
he began to study the New Testament. At first only
its sublime ethics attracted him, but by and by it was
the Person and life of Christ which drew him by the
Holy Spirit to Himself. Then he met the missionary
Dr. Schwarz, and from him he heard the Gospel, and
attended the lectures of Neander on Galatians, and
those of Hengstenberg, on the history of the kingdom of
God, on the Old Testament, and on its Christology, and
was baptized by Dr. Schwarz, July 18, 1847. In 1848
he left the University of Berlin and went to Scotland,
and studied theology at the College of the Free
Church at Aberdeen. Afterwards he became assistant
Professor of Hebrew to Dr. Duncan in New College,
Edinburgh. In 1857 he was ordained by Dr. Candish
to do ministerial work among the Germans in
Edinburgh. In 1858 he was sent as a missionary to
the Jews in Galatz, Roumania, whence he was
transferred in 1862 to Ancona, Italy. From there
he was sent in 1867 to Amsterdam, to succeed Dr.
Schwarz, who went to London. In 1871 he was requested
by the English Presbyterians to take charge
of their mission in London, in which he laboured
ardently and successfully until his retirement in 1894.
Mollis, Rev. M. L., thus writes of himself:—"I was
born in Russia of Jewish parents, and in the heart of
Talmudical study, zeal for traditional observances,
and great orthodoxy. My education was therefore
thoroughly Jewish, and I sincerely and firmly believed
in all I was taught, both at home and in school, as
being the commandments of God, and that in the
keeping of them there was great reward.
"Thus far a good foundation was laid, in which I
gloried and thanked God that I was born a Jew and
well brought up and instructed in the holy law of
God and the prophets, and, moreover, in the Oral
Law and the teaching of the wise men in Israel.
"I may also add here that I was likewise taught
several modern languages, and received a fair secular
education. For this I have to thank several members
of my family at home, who cherished some higher
plans in reference to my future career. My father
and mother were dead, and it had been their desire
that I should learn the banking business when I was
old enough. This was not to my taste, and after
trying it for awhile, I left home, and went first to
Odessa and then to Roumania to visit my uncle. I
did not stop very long with him, but left the country
and went eastward.
"It was during my travels abroad that I first came
into contact with Jewish missionaries, and heard of
Jesus Christ. I had not read the New Testament
before, or even heard of such a book, as far as I can
now remember. I was therefore perfectly ignorant
of Christianity, and knew nothing of the Gospel. Of
course, I heard at home of Russian and Roman
Catholic Christianity, but I was a Jew and forbidden
to enquire into their religion, or to read their books.
One thing, however, I remember, made some impression
upon me, and that occurred when I was in
Odessa. I saw there some Germans who were
Lutherans, and noticed how different they were in
their lives and manners from other people around
them, but I never enquired where the change came
from. And so it was at first when I heard of the
missionaries, for I really did not quite know their
religion and what they were teaching. I went one
day out of curiosity to hear one of them read and
expound some chapters on Isaiah the prophet. But
when the reader asserted that Jesus Christ was the
true Messiah, I felt indignant and strongly opposed
him. It was an insult, I thought, to suppose that the
Jews were in error in regard to Jesus of Nazareth,
that the Christians were right, and that our holy
religion was inferior to Christianity. I visited, however,
the missionary several times afterwards, and
argued with him. In the meantime the New Testament
was put into my hands, and I was requested to
read it. I did so, but I did not relish it, because of
the Deity ascribed therein to Jesus Christ. This
was the crucial point with me at the time. Still, I
continued to read the New Testament; but, I confess
it with shame, I often threw the book away from me,
or dropped it down on the ground.
"Thus for two years the struggle went on, but I
searched the Scriptures earnestly and diligently, and
besought the Lord to help me, until, by the grace of
God, I found the truth, and Jesus Christ was revealed
unto me as the suffering, despised and crucified
Messiah, who endured all for my sins, for the sins of
my nation and of the whole world. The change that
came upon me was indeed great; my pride vanished,
my dislike of Christ disappeared, all opposition to the
truth ceased, and I felt a wonderful love to Him who
first loved me, and who gave Himself for me.
"I can only speak of it now as a new creation. But
it was the view of Jesus Christ upon the Cross which
melted my heart. I cannot explain it in words, but
it was a reality, and held me fast and absorbed all
my thoughts until I could almost realize the words
of the prophet Zechariah, 'And they shall look upon
Me whom they have pierced and mourn.' And I did
mourn too!
"This was no doubt the most remarkable incident
in my conversion, and, like Paul of old, I 'determined
not to know anything among men, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified.'
"After my baptism, I wrote home and told them
of my conversion, and my faith in Jesus Christ.
There was no answer for some time, but it came at
length couched in rather mild terms, and expressing
a hope that I knew best what I had done, and had
taken the step after being fully convinced that it
was the right one. But I could read between the
lines that they were grieved at home in that I had
left Judaism and embraced Christianity, and thus,
according to their notion, had become 'a Meshumed.'
Still, my joy in the Lord increased daily, for I
knew in whom I had believed.
"As to my future calling, I was uncertain for
some time, although it was in my heart to preach the
Gospel to my brethren, but the Lord opened a door
for me, and I was thankful to realize that it was His
doing and not mine.
"After three years' training in a college, I was
appointed to labour first in England among the Jews,
and then I went abroad and preached the Gospel to
Jews and Gentiles in lands beyond the seas. Whilst
abroad I was greatly blessed in my labours, and in
one place I officiated in a church and dispensed the
Word of Life to Jews and Gentiles for several years.
"Since my return to England, I have spent all my
time in missionary operations among my Jewish
brethren in various towns of this realm, and have
sought, by the grace of God, to lead them to Jesus
Christ, the true Messiah and Redeemer.
"It has been my privilege to preach the Gospel to
a very large number of Jews and Jewesses during my
missionary career, and the good Lord has been
pleased to grant me tokens of His favour and
approbation in souls of the House of Israel, whom I
have led to the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I rejoice to know that I have spiritual children who
are walking worthy of their high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. Some of them are in the ministry, and
others following honest callings and leading quiet
Christian and useful lives to the honour and praise of
God. And I may be permitted to add that many
others perhaps, though unknown to me at present,
have been led to believe in Jesus Christ through my
humble instrumentality, and who are known of God."
Montefiore, Lydia, was born a Jewess, and was
the aunt of Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart. Her
parents were orthodox Jews, and she was taught
strictly to observe the Sabbath as a sacred day, as
well as the feasts and fasts, and other ceremonies
prescribed by the law of Moses. Early in life she
was instructed in the duties enjoined by the rabbis on
Jewish women. At the same time she had instilled
into her youthful mind the lofty idea of the Unity of
God, and the pre-eminence of the Jews.
After the death of her parents she visited America,
and some of the countries of Europe, but finally took
up her abode in Marseilles, where she remained until
her death. "In March 1854," writes Mr. J. P. Cohen,
"I arrived in Marseilles as missionary under the
auspices of the British Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel among the Jews, and in the following month
I was introduced to Miss Montefiore by a lady who felt
a deep interest in her spiritual welfare, but before
doing so she said, 'You will find her an out-and-out
Jewess, and a great bigot.'
"On entering her house the lady said, 'I have
brought an Israelite, Mr. Cohen, and his wife to see
you.' She received us very kindly, and after the
ladies had had some conversation, observing the Bible
on a small table by her side, I said, 'You read your
Bible, I see.' 'Yes,' she replied, 'it is my greatest
comfort.' I took the sacred volume and read Isaiah
liii., and at the close asked her what she thought of
that wondrous chapter. 'I should like to hear your
opinion upon it,' replied Miss Montefiore. I told her
I could unhesitatingly say that it referred to the life
and death of the Messiah; and that it had been
literally accomplished in the person of Jesus, whom I
believed to be the promised Messiah. 'Then you are
a Christian,' she said. 'I am happy to say I am,' was
my reply. 'God has graciously opened my eyes to
behold in Jesus my promised Redeemer.' Turning to
the lady who had introduced us, she angrily said, 'I
thought you told me they were Israelites?' 'So
they are, true Israelites,' replied the lady. A short
pause ensued, and from the quivering of Miss
Montefiore's lips and flushed cheeks, I could plainly
see that her Jewish pride was roused, and with much
vehemence she said, 'I think it is most insulting to
call on people, and try to convert them from the faith
of their fathers. Why not let every one remain in
the religion in which they were born? I must tell
you I am a thorough Jewess: I was born a Jewess,
and I have lived eighty-three years as a Jewess, and
hope I shall die a Jewess.' But quickly recovering her
composure she said, 'I repeatedly hear Christians say
that they love the God of Abraham. I cannot
conceive how they can do that, and not keep the law
which He gave to His servant Moses. If Christ has
done away with the law of Moses, how can He be the
Messiah?' I replied that this was one of the many
erroneous ideas the Jews have of Christ. He did not
come to destroy the law, or the prophets, as the
Jews seemed to think, but to fulfil all that the law and
the prophets wrote concerning Him. It was He who
made known the true meaning of all the Mosaic
ordinances and institutions. He explained their
righteous precepts, the latter of which at the time of
His coming the scribes and Pharisees had rendered
of none effect through their traditions. Besides, I told
her that God had promised to make a new covenant
with us, and to write His law in our hearts. Here she
rather abruptly interrupted, and asked where that
new covenant was to be found. 'It is not in my
Bible,' she said. 'Pardon me, it is in your Bible,' and
I shewed her Jer. xxxi. 31-33, which she read with
evident surprise.
"We conversed for a long time; Miss Montefiore
shewing great interest in all I said, and as we were
about to leave she pleasantly remarked, 'I cannot
understand how a Jew who believes in Jesus can still
be an Israelite.' I told her not to think I ceased to
be a Jew because I believed in the Lord Jesus, far
from it; He was a Jew Himself; all His first disciples
were Jews; He personally preached only to Jews;
and it was not till the Jews refused to listen that His
apostles were sent to the Gentiles. She seemed much
pleased with this piece of Scriptural truth, and on
bidding her adieu, she asked us to call again, and
said, 'I shall be pleased to see you at any time, except
on the Saturday, which day I set apart for prayer and
Bible reading.'
"I soon paid her another visit, and after a little talk
about passing events our conversation turned on
repentance, which appeared to be her favourite topic.
I said, 'What we want most is to have our sins
forgiven; not always to be repenting of them, but to
forsake them altogether. God did not say to our
fathers when in Egypt, "When I hear you repenting
I will save you," but He says, "When I see the blood
I will pass over you" (Exod. xii. 13). The blood was
Israel's security then, and it is the blood now that
makes atonement for the soul (Lev. xvii. 11). 'And
without shedding of blood there is no remission.'
"After a little hesitation she said: 'We have no
priest, no temple; the place appointed where alone it
was lawful to offer sacrifice is inaccessible to us
(Jews). Surely the Almighty will not require of us
that which we cannot perform; He will mercifully
accept our prayers, our fastings, our observance of the
Sabbath, and the reading of the law, as I do daily, as
a substitute for performing the law.' 'Dear madam,'
I said, 'let me beg of you not to rely on such bruised
reeds, nor build your soul's salvation on such sinking
sand; they are but vain excuses; they may quiet your
conscience, calm your fears, and lull you into a false
security, which you may only discover when too late.'
"The following will shew her idea of repentance.
In writing to a friend in March 1853 on this subject,
she said: 'You say repentance is not sufficient for
forgiveness of sins. Then why did King David say
to God, "Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I
give it; Thou delightest not in burnt offerings; the
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a
contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise!" Let
us follow God's commandments, and do unto others
as we would they should do unto us, and be patient
under all adversities. But the last, I fear, I am
deficient in, for I am often very irritable and impatient.'
"It was wonderful to see how her views of the
Messiahship of Jesus became daily more distinct.
"I have just returned from a visit to our aged friend,
Miss Montefiore, after having had a most interesting
conversation, or rather, I might say, a Bible reading
with her. I was greatly pleased to observe that her
tone, when speaking of the Saviour, was much milder
than in any of my former visits; and her anxiety for
the truth was so great that it gave me real pleasure to
be with her. She said: 'All I want to know is the
truth. I shall receive nothing, unless I see it plainly
revealed in my Bible.' She expressed a wish to read
the New Testament, and asked where she could
procure one. I told her I daily expected some Bibles
and Testaments from London, and that as soon as
they arrived I should be most happy to supply her
with one.
"About this time the cholera was raging in
Marseilles, and hundreds were daily cut down by this
most painful epidemic; and not feeling well myself,
our friends strongly advised us to leave the town for
a few weeks. During our absence the Spirit of God
worked mightily in this lady's soul.
"On our return we heard she had frequently
enquired after us, and often said, 'I miss them much,
I hope they will soon return.' Accordingly Mrs.
Cohen did not lose any time, but called upon her at
once, and was received by Miss Montefiore with great
affection. Having been reminded of the near
approach of the Day of Atonement, and 'without
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin,' she
said, 'Yes, I know it, and feel it more than ever. I
once kept the Day of Atonement with fasting and
prayer, in the vain hope of making propitiation for
my sins, but I am beginning to feel I want something
better than the blood of bulls and goats to atone for
them. I often repeat those words, "Lord, I believe,
help Thou mine unbelief." 'Unbelief,' she said, 'has
been, and still is, our sin; the veil is still over our
people's eyes; but it shall be removed, for God has
promised it. They will not search the Scriptures as
I do.' With clasped hands and uplifted eyes she said,
'I'll tell you what I say to the Anointed One (Jesus,
I mean), "If I have done or said anything against
Thee, pardon, oh pardon me, for I did it in ignorance."'
This was indeed good news to us, and we earnestly
prayed God to deepen these convictions, to teach her
by His Spirit, and give her much grace to impart
them to her Jewish friends and relatives. The New
Testament which I promised, but was unable to give
her on account of our sudden and unexpected
departure, was supplied her by a friend during our
absence, the reading of which proved a great blessing
to her.
"A few days before Yom Kippur she said, 'The
more I read my Bible, the more I am beginning to
feel my being born a Jewess can never save me; I
must have something better than my fastings and
prayers.' Every visit I paid her I could see a
considerable change in her sentiments respecting the
Lord Jesus. It was pleasing to me, who had
prayerfully watched her for so many months, to
observe how gradually her Jewish prejudices disappeared,
her views of the Gospel becoming more
and more clear, and her love for Jesus increasing
daily. It was in the beginning of October 1854, she
expressed a wish to be baptized, provided it could be
done very secretly, on account of her position. She
said, 'I should not even like my servant to know of
it' (who had lived in her service four years). I told
her to remember that 'the fear of man bringeth a
snare,' and that Jesus Christ tells us that, 'Whosoever
shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before
My Father which is in Heaven'; I also advised her
to read the tenth chapter of St. Matthew, at the same
time to make it a matter of serious prayer before God,
and I would do the same, and that we would converse
more on this subject at another time.
"Let me here remark that Miss Montefiore had a
niece in England, who had already embraced Christianity,
and her heart's desire and prayer to God for
her aunt was, that she might be saved. Every letter
she sent her aunt contained some exhortation to
search the Scriptures; she also forwarded her religious
books; but the contents of the letters were soon
forgotten; nevertheless, I believe that the first link in
the chain of human agency in Miss Montefiore's
conversion was to be found in this niece's persevering
prayers for her aged relative. Not having heard from
her aunt for a year, and knowing nothing of our
Christian intercourse, the lady was surprised and
thankful to receive the following letter:—
"October, 1854.
"'Dear L.,—I have at last taken courage to reply
to some of your letters, dates n'importe. I have read
"The Book and its Story," the missionary's aid for
converting the blind and the stupid. I read it with
much interest, and I pray ardently it may bring the
whole world to believe, as I now do, that Jesus
Christ, God's only begotten Son, was ordained to be
crucified to take away all our sins; and that by
believing in Him we shall be saved. Madame R.
lent me the Old and New Testament bound together.
The Old Testament I almost knew by heart, but the
New I had never before read. I have studied it
closely during many evenings, which has sorely pained
my eyes; but, oh, how plainly and typically the Bible
shews the coming of Messiah! I have thought so long
since, before you endeavoured to bring me to believe.
Oh, my dear L., had God so ordered your abode close
to me, I should have listened better than by your
letters, and perhaps been baptized ere now. Pray keep
very secret the words of this letter. I cannot say more.
My heart is too full.
"'My country residence of ten weeks did not
improve my health. The fatigue was too much for
me at my time of life. I continue very feeble. The
Lord's will be done! If He heals me, I shall be healed;
if He saves me, I shall be saved. Thanks to our
Heavenly Father the cholera is over at Marseilles. I
have lost my poor landlady, she died in the country,
leaving Marseilles to escape the cholera. I went with
regret, as I was not afraid. I completed last week
my eighty-first year, so excuse the defects, for my age's
sake. "He is in the Father, and the Father is in
Him." Amen.—Your truly affectionate,
"'Lydia Montefiore."
"'What word can express my surprise,' writes that
lady, 'at the declaration contained in the former part
of this letter! An actual declaration in the belief
of a crucified Redeemer! Over and over again did I
read the words, "And I pray ardently that the whole
world may believe, as I do now, that Jesus Christ,
God's only begotten Son, was ordained to be crucified
to take away all our sins, and that by believing in
Him we shall be saved." Could this be from one of
whom it was said only two years before, "She is an
out-and-out Jewess?" The Lord did at last convince
her that Jesus was the Messiah of whom Isaiah spoke
in his liii. chapter, as he writes: "He was wounded
for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon
Him; and by His stripes we are healed. He was
cut off out of the land of the living."' Her desire for
immediate baptism daily increased; and she frequently
made it a subject of conversation with her Christian
friends. At a subsequent visit she said to me, 'The
Lord has given me a deep sense of my former sins,
but I have rolled them all on Jesus for pardon, and
now I shall not be happy until I am baptized.' I
again told her seriously to consider the step she was
about to take, in declaring she was not ashamed of
Jesus; and asked her whether she had made up her
mind to endure persecution for Christ's sake. She
said, 'My confidence is in God; He will not lay more
upon me than I am able to bear.' The conversation
that day was more about faith in God, and less of
man, which I was very glad to hear. At another visit,
when speaking about baptism, I said, 'Now, suppose
you are baptized, and your friends should ask you
whether it was true,—what would you say?' She
said, 'I would tell them it was quite true, and that I
felt assured, if they searched the Scriptures prayerfully,
as I had done, God would remove the veil from their
eyes, as it has pleased Him to remove it from mine;
and then they would also believe in Jesus, the true
Messiah, and in the power of His resurrection, as I
have done.' It was truly delightful to see how
gradually the fear of man subsided, and her confidence
in God daily grew stronger. I accordingly introduced
the Rev. J. Monod, who very kindly visited her several
times; his visits were much blessed to her; and
having been satisfied with her faith in Christ, he
baptized her on Thursday, January 18th, 1855.
"We spent the previous evening with her, and I
read St. Paul's conversion, and the sufferings of our
Saviour, which affected her much, and I earnestly
asked God to be with us on the following day. She
said: 'How thankful do I feel that the fear of man is
entirely removed from my mind, so much so that I
have not only told my intentions to my servant, but
have given her leave to publish it abroad, and told
her, should she meet my relations, how to tell them of
it; in fact, I wish all my relations to know it, and I
pray God they may be brought to the knowledge of
truth ere they die."
Moritz, (Moses) Johann Christian, was one of
the most distinguished of the early missionaries of
the L.J.S. He was born at Bernstein (Pomerania)
in 1786. His mother died when he was only four
years of age. Before she expired she blessed him,
and said, "You will live to see the advent of the
Messiah. Remain steadfastly in the faith of your
fathers, that you may have a rich share in their
Kingdom." These words made a strong impression
upon the child and were realized by him in a
different manner than the mother expected. Moritz
received a Talmudic education from private teachers,
but modern literature attracted him most. His
father and his teacher warned him against it, and
indeed they had reason for doing so, for he began to
express his doubts about the divine origin of the
Talmud, and one rabbi declared that his mind was
deranged and that he would eventually become a
Meshummad. On account of his disagreement with
his stepmother, Moritz left his home at the age of
16 and went to Berlin to an uncle. At that time
Prussia had suffered much from the war with
Napoleon, and Moritz went to London in 1807, and
brought a recommendation to the rabbi Dr. Herschell.
The rabbi received him in a friendly manner, and
warned him to beware of the missionary Frey, yet
he did not regard it. The quiet Sunday in England
impressed him, and enquiring of Jews for the cause
of it, they said, "If we Jews should keep the Sabbath
holy, as the Christians here do their Sunday, the
Messiah would soon come." This utterance he
considered as a hint to him for seeking to become
acquainted with Christianity. He then got a New
Testament and read day and night, comparing it with
the Old. He felt his sins and took refuge in Jesus by
faith, which he at once confessed before the Jews.
His father was informed of his son's intention to become
a Christian, and he came to London and tried his
best to win him back to Judaism, but had at last to
leave him with imprecations and the assurance that he
would never get anything of his property. Moritz
went then to the German Pastor, Dr. Steinkopf, by
whom he was instructed and baptized. In 1811, he
went to Gottenburg, Sweden, where he maintained
himself by giving lessons and selling books. In 1817
he was introduced by Lewis Way to the mission, and
having received a special call from the Czar
Alexander he went to Russia that year and laboured
till 1825. At that time he wrote two letters to the
Jews, based on Jer. xxxi. 31-34. (Elberfeld, 1820.)
In 1825, after being in the Missionary College, he
entered the service of the L.J.S., and was sent to
Hamburg, where he at once formed a Prayer Union.
From Hamburg he itinerated to Sweden, Denmark,
Russia, Bavaria, Würtemberg, receiving God's smile
and blessing upon his efforts wherever he went. In
1843, he returned to Gottenburg where he testified
to his brethren of the truth of the Gospel till 1868,
when he died in the Lord, after 42 years service under
the L.J.S. It may be mentioned that his wife, a
Swedish lady, who shared his toils and hopes with him
for fifty years, died in 1864, and after her death he
gave all her savings to the L.J.S.
Mossa, Nathaniel Immanuel, gives the following particulars
of himself:—"I was born on October 29th, 1833,
at Friedland, near Beskow. My father was a Jewish
merchant, first in that town, and later in Spandau,
where I passed my boyhood. When I had completed
my studies at the Werder Gymnasium in Berlin I
entered the University in order to study medicine.
I graduated in 1858, and the next year passed the
State Examination. I then entered the army for one
year as a volunteer doctor, and was sent to Spandau,
and then to Jüterberg. Here, in the hospitable house
of Dr. Gross (later in Barmen), I learned Hahnemann's
method of treatment. After having finished my
military year's practice, I settled in Bromberg, and soon
found a promising sphere of activity. This, however,
was interrupted by my participating in the military
expeditions of 1864 and 1866. Also in 1870 I was called
to serve in the army as physician, and took part in
the siege of Strassburg, and likewise of Belfort, and
returned home with the decoration of the Iron Cross.
I then renewed my medical work at Bromberg, and
continued it for twenty years, and was also a contributor
to the 'General Homœopathic Periodical.'
Owing to the precarious health of my only child, I
was at length obliged to exchange the northern cold
climate for that of the south, and hence settled in
1883 at Stuttgart. In 1894, in addition to my
medical work, I undertook in 1894 the editorship
of the above-named journal. I have also for some
years acted as President of the Committee of the
Society of Homœopathic Physicians at Würtemberg.
"As for the story of my spiritual life, I may say,
with all humility, that our gracious Lord favoured
me early in my youth. Already as a school-boy I
had the opportunity of learning the Gospel, since the
Bible was our book for reading in my first Christian
school. I was at that time much attracted by the
works and utterances of Jesus, and deeply touched
by His death, and impressions perseveringly strong
were made upon my mind. The instruction and
earnest converse I had with two fellow-workers of
the British Society, Dr. Koppel and Dr. Fürst,
helped me."
This short extract from Dr. Nathaniel
Immanuel Mossa's autobiography is supplemented
by the information supplied by Pastor de le Roi
concerning him:—
"One day a Jewish Rabbi of his town asked him
to give an address to Jewish prisoners, and he took
for his text: 'Seek ye the Lord while He is
to be found, call ye upon Him while He is near,'
and he illustrated the text by the example of the
prodigal son. This was the turning point in his life.
He himself began to seek Him until He found Him
or was found by Him. He afterwards went to
Bromberg, where he heard Koppel giving an exposition
on Isa. liii. and he joined in his labours as a
doctor in the Institution at Salem. Koppel recommended
him for baptism to the L.J.S. missionary
Bellson, in Berlin. Later in life he settled in
Stuttgart, where he was a great comfort and support
to Gottheil, and after his death, he himself acted as
missionary of the British Society there till he was
called home."
Myers, Rev. Dr. Alfred Moritz, was born in Breslau,
of strict orthodox parents. At the age of twelve his
teacher was a famous Talmud rabbi, and he lived and
moved and had his being in the Talmud and in
nothing else. Consequently he became disgusted with
it, and when he heard that two missionaries had
arrived in Breslau, he visited them and received tracts
from them. For this he was punished, and when his
mother died, he left his home for London in 1830, and
then went to Liverpool, where he heard the Gospel from
the Rev. H. S. Joseph, and after many inward struggles
was baptized in 1839. He studied theology, and became
a clergyman of the Church of England, and a famous
preacher. He was Vicar at Barnet, and afterward
of All Saints, Dalston. He wrote an autobiography,
"Both one in Christ," London and Liverpool, 1839,
"The History of a young Jew," Chester, 1840. "The
Jew" translated into German, 1856. He wrote also
for children—"The Peep of Day," "The Night of
Trial," upon the first missionary at Southsea, "Line
upon Line," "Reading Disentangled." He died
in 1880.
Nachim, Rev. M., born in the town of Odessa in
1836. He writes:—
"I was initiated into the covenant on the eighth
day (according to the Jewish rite), and I received the
name of Reuben, after my grandfather, who had been
chief rabbi. I do not know the time when I began
to learn Hebrew, but I do remember I was not quite
eight years old when I commenced to study the
Talmud.
"In the year 1854, I started on a journey to
Palestine. When in Constantinople I met a Hebrew
Christian colporteur named Solomon, who offered me
a New Testament.
"Up to this period of my life I had never heard
there was such a book in existence! That dear
Christian man induced me to visit the London
Jews' Society's missionary (the Rev. Dr. Stern).
Space does not permit me to go into detail, but that
memorable visit, which lasted several hours, thanks
be to our Heavenly Father, changed my future life.
It was then for the first time I heard that Christianity
was not, as I had been led to believe, a system of
idolatry, but based on Moses and the Prophets, and
I left Dr. Stern's house with a burning desire to hear
more, and learn more about it. For two years I
visited Dr. Stern constantly, and the more I learned
of the saving truth as it is in Jesus, the more agonized
was my struggle; but at last, though my pillow was
oft bedewed with tears, as I realized fully what
decision for Christ would involve, I was enabled by
Divine grace to say, 'I count all things but loss, for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things;' and on September 16, 1856, I was baptized
in Constantinople by my beloved spiritual father,
Dr. Stern, and I then received the name of Michael
(who is like unto God). From that time I had
an earnest desire to witness for Christ amongst my
brethren; and in 1860 I entered the mission field in
connexion with the London Jews' Society, with whom
I remained till November, 1869, and then I commenced
my missionary labours with the British Society.
"In closing this brief outline of my life, I desire to
express my deep gratitude to our gracious Lord,
who has permitted me to preach the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in Russia, Roumania, Austria, Germany,
France, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and Bulgaria,
and has blessed the message to many a Jewish heart,
and to the salvation of many souls. I have also been
privileged to preach the Gospel to many members of
my own family, holding influential positions in
Russia, and I am thankful so say that nine of my
cousins have been baptized.
"My future is in God's hands, and my earnest
prayer is, that the remainder of my life may be more
fully dedicated to His service and for His glory."
Naphthali, Israel, was one of the earliest missionaries
of the British Society. He was appointed in
1842, and laboured mostly in Manchester. In 1851
he could report twenty-three converts as the fruit of his
labours. In 1870, it was recorded that through
his instrumentality fifty Jews acknowledged Jesus as
their Saviour, amongst whom was Aaron Sternberg,
who afterwards became an earnest missionary of the
same Society. Naphthali was an earnest, spiritually-minded
Christian; who reached the age of 86, and
died in the Home for Aged Israelites in 1886.
Nathaniel, (Julla), a North African Jew, was one of
the earliest Jewish converts in England after the
Reformation. He was baptized in the parish church
of All Hallows, Lombard Street, London on April 1,
1577, by the Rev. John Fox, who preached a
sermon on that occasion on Rom. xi. in Latin.
That sermon was published in English by James
Bell in 1587. Nathaniel, too, gave an address to the
congregation after his baptism. ("Jewish Intelligence,"
1827, pp. 28, 321, 406, 445.)
Navorsky, son of Moses bar Hayim, who lived
in the Archduchy of Posen in the seventeenth
century. His father was a tenant farmer, and
when he died the Polish nobleman, to whom the
farm belonged, after demanding from the widow the
payment of false debts, which she refused to pay,
drove her away from the farm, seized her son and had
him forcibly baptized in the Roman Catholic Church.
When the Saxons invaded Poland, one of their
officers gave the nobleman a dog for him in
exchange. This officer, being a Christian man and
a member of the Moravian brethren, treated him
kindly and instructed him in the truth of the Gospel,
of which he had hitherto been in total ignorance.
Later he joined the Lutheran Church and lived a
pious Christian life. He died in 1750.
Neander, Auguste.[16] On the 17th of July in the
year 1850, an imposing funeral cortège slowly wended
its way through the streets of Berlin, attended by a
Royal carriage and by numerous Government officials,
clergymen, professors and students of the Universities
of Berlin and Halle, assembled to pay their last
tokens of respect and esteem to the distinguished
man who was being carried to his final resting-place.
Along the whole route from the residence of
the deceased to the cemetery, a distance of two miles,
immense crowds of people thronged the streets,
filling all windows, doors, and available places of
observation. Before the hearse were carried the
Bible and Greek Testament of the man who had
done more than any of his contemporaries to keep
alight in Germany the torch of pure and undiluted
Christianity. The whole scene was a striking tribute
to the worth and work of the eminent professor and
Church historian, Auguste Neander, who for thirty-eight
years had exercised unbounded influence in the
domain of theology, not only in the University of
which he was a distinguished ornament, but also
throughout Europe. And this man was a Christian
Jew, whose conversion and devotion to Christianity
were destined to be fruitful in great results, the end
of which we have hardly seen to-day.
David Mendel, to give him his original name, was
born at Göttingen of poor Jewish parents on January
10th, 1789. He was a scion of the famous Mendel
family, connected by descent with the great Jewish
reformer Moses Mendelssohn, whose successful efforts
to elevate and uplift his then degraded race ended
in all his descendants eventually embracing the
Christian faith. In the words of a modern Jewish
historian, whose love of truth led her to place on
record what must have cost many a regret to avow:—"As
we read the story of the wise and liberal
philosopher, who broke through the barriers and let
in the light of learning and of social countenance
on mediæval benighted Judaism, we shall see that
the very children of the emancipator were dazzled by
the unaccustomed rays, that his sons wavered and
his daughters apostatized, and that in the third
generation—only the third—the fetters which degraded
were called degrading, and the grandchildren
of Moses Mendelssohn, the typical Jew, were Jews no
longer."[17]
Young David Mendel received his early education
at the gymnasium or public school at Hamburg, it
being his parents' intention to bring him up in the
legal profession, in which, there is very little doubt,
he would have become distinguished. In 1806,
however, having, through the influence of two fellow-students,
Chamisso the poet and another named
Neumann, embraced the Christian faith, he determined
to devote himself to the study of theology, and
thenceforth the whole course of his life was altered.
At his baptism he had taken the Christian names of
Johann Auguste Wilhelm, after those of his two
friends, to which he added a new surname, Neander,
or the "new man," and the new aims of his life were
thus expressed in a letter which he wrote to the
pastor who had baptized him: "My reception into
the holy covenant of the higher life is to me the
greatest thing for which I have to thank you, and I
can only prove my gratitude by striving to let the
outward sign of baptism unto a new life become,
indeed, the mark of the new life proclaiming the
reality of the new birth."
Auguste Neander, as he was thereafter known, now
entered the University of Halle, where he studied
Christian dogmatics under the celebrated Professor
Schleiermacher, whose speculations in doctrinal
theology verged very closely upon heterodoxy, and
who is pronounced by an authority to have been "the
greatest theological writer that Germany has produced
since Luther, and, indeed, he may be called the
founder of modern rationalism on its better side."[18]
Intercourse with this erratic and brilliant genius
produced no perceptible taint of rationalism in the
mind or scholarship of the scarcely less brilliant
pupil, whose public teaching contrasted so powerfully
with that of his erstwhile master. "It was a sad and
singular sight," wrote the biographer of Neander, "to
behold his former teacher, Schleiermacher, a Christian
by birth, inculcating in one lecture-room, with all the
power of his mighty genius, those doctrines which
lead to the denial of the Evangelical attributes of
Jesus Christ, whilst in another his pupil Neander,
by birth a Jew, preached and taught salvation
through faith in Christ the Son of God alone."[19]
When Neander left Halle he repaired to his
birthplace, Göttingen, to pursue his theological studies
in the university of which Planck was at that time
the leading spirit. It was there that Neander
acquired the practice, so conspicuous in his writings,
of taking nothing for granted and digging deep to
the very origines of things. It was this invariable
reliance solely on first hand and primitive information
which makes his literary work so valuable. In 1811
Neander became a private "coach" at Heidelberg, in
the university of which he was appointed a professor
of theology in the following year. Youthful as he
still was, his fame had by this time spread far and
wide, and within a few months he was elected to a
similar position in the recently founded University
of Berlin, which the King of Prussia desired to elevate
to the foremost rank among the sister universities of
his kingdom, and to make a great centre for the
teaching of theology. There Neander remained till
the day of his death, fully justifying his selection as
one of the leading lecturers in that seat of learning.
The foregoing are the chief events in an otherwise
uneventful career, entirely passed as scholar and
tutor within the sheltered seclusion of university
life. It has been said that such an atmosphere
makes for self-indulgence. Of course, it may easily
degenerate into this state. And yet how many
university dons could we name, whose saintly and
scholarly lives, long hours spent in teaching, and
nightly burnings of the midnight oil give the lie to
such a sweeping assertion! That it was far from
being the case with Neander the following slight
sketch of the man himself, his labours and his writings,
will abundantly demonstrate.
Neander was of an exceedingly lovable disposition,
humble-minded, retiring, pious and zealous. He was
as simple as a child in the ordinary and every-day
concerns of life, eccentric and singular beyond description,
absent-minded to the last degree, and generous
to a fault. His charity was unbounded. His wants
being few, he could give the bulk of his income to
others. The proceeds from the sale of his numerous
works were devoted to philanthropic and missionary
purposes. He could never keep any loose cash in
his pocket, or turn away his face from any poor man.
If he did not part with the well-worn coat off his
back it was because he preferred to bestow the new
one hanging in his wardrobe.
His industry was prodigious. Being a single man,
for he never married, he could devote all his time
and energies to his calling—which was that of scholar,
writer, and lecturer. He was never ordained, and so
never preached in the ministerial sense of the word;
but he never lectured without teaching Christianity
in its practical as well as doctrinal and historical
aspect. Religion was never obscured by theology.
His lectures were attended not merely by under-graduates
and students, but also by leading professors
of his own and other universities—Protestants and
Romanists alike sitting at his feet. Three lectures a
day he invariably gave, and those on different
subjects. To the students he was a father and a
counsellor, ever ready to bestow, though never eager
to thrust, his advice upon all who sought it. He was
universally beloved for his kindness of heart and his
gentleness, and respected and admired for his talents,
scholarship, and teaching powers.
The supreme object of Neander's life, studies, and
labours, is thus concisely stated by himself in the
preface of the first edition of his magnum opus:[20]
"To exhibit the history of the Church of Christ as a
living witness of the Divine power of Christianity, as
a school of Christian experience, a voice sounding
through the ages, of instruction, of doctrine and of
reproof, for all who are disposed to listen." Neander
was not merely the historian of the dead past or
laudator temporis acti. To him the past was indeed
great, eloquent, and glorious, but he regarded it chiefly
as the beginning of a greater present and a more
glorious future, and as the foundation of the stately
building of the Church that is being reared throughout
the ages. He had unquenchable faith in the abiding
presence of Christ in His Church, and of its consequent
power to mould and transform the world.
The parables of the leaven and of the mustard seed
were pregnant with meaning to him, and in his
history he elaborately traced the process of development
in the past centuries—a process which amounted
to a steady and ever forward progress, even furthered
by all attempts to hinder it. And this, because
Christianity is a Divine power which descended from
heaven at the Incarnation of Christ, and gave a new
character to the life of the human race.
We can well understand how exhilarating and
energising such teaching as this must have been
when directed, as it was of set purpose, to counteract
the then new-fangled doctrines of Schleiermacher, and
more especially of Strauss, who in his "Life of
Christ" had sought to eliminate from Christianity all
that was Divine, and therefore to destroy its
regenerative power on the hearts and lives of mankind.
To Neander, then, a Christian Jew, an immense
debt of gratitude is due from all who hold the Catholic
faith undefiled. He stemmed for a time the tide of
Rationalism which threatened to engulf in its turbid
waters not only Germany, but the whole of Christendom.
His aid was expressly chartered to undo
the harm caused by the speculative teaching of
Strauss. When others would have suppressed the
latter's work by force, Neander, discountenancing
such carnal weapons, boldly and mercilessly met his
heresies by the issue of his own "Life of Christ."
We have already dwelt upon his two greatest
works. We can only barely mention the others.
They were, to give them their titles in English—"The
History of the Planting and Training of the
Christian Church by the Apostles," "Biographies of
Julian the Apostate, St. Bernard and St. Chrysostom,"
"Anti-Gnostikus, Development of the Gnostic System,"
"Memorabilia from the History of the Christian Life,"
"Unity and Variety of the Christian Life," numerous
essays contributed to religious periodicals, and
"Memoirs of the Proceedings of the Berlin Royal
Academy of Sciences."
Neander's restless activity doubtless shortened his life,
and death overtook him before the work which he had
set himself to do was done. He had completed his
"General History" only to the middle of the fourteenth
century. He died whilst dictating a page of
this unfinished history, with the words, "I am weary;
I must sleep; good night;" upon his lips. To
another famous historian, Bede, it was granted to see,
but only just to see, the completion of his labours.
When dying, the amanuensis who wrote for him his
translation into Saxon of the Gospel according to St.
John, said: "Master, there is but one sentence
wanting." Bede answered: "Write quickly!" and
when the sentence was written, he replied: "Thou
hast the truth—consummatum est," and with the Gloria
Patri upon his lips, he breathed his last. Neander's
work is like a broken column, and yet who shall say
it had been better otherwise? Surely not those who
believe that "man is immortal, until his work is
done."
Neander, Rev. John, thus wrote of his conversion to
a sincere acquaintance:—"My dear friend,—Cheerfully
do I respond to your call, and as briefly as possible
will I relate to you, how wonderfully God has dealt
with me; how He, the Almighty God, looked down
upon me while I was yet deeply sunk; how He
called me, and lifted me up from the dust; and how
He brought me out of darkness into His marvellous
light; praised be His name. Amen.
"I was born in the year 1811 at Neubrûck, in the
province of Posen. My parents were strict Talmudical
Jews, my father especially, a zealous, learned
Talmudist. They had consecrated me to the office
of a rabbi, even while I was at my mother's breast;
which office being considered then, as it still is, a most
holy vocation. On my having attained my eighth
year, and being able to read Hebrew, my father
engaged for me a teacher of the Talmud, who
resided in the house, and from early in the morning
until late at night he laboured with me in the Talmud;
now and then he also read the Pentateuch and Jarchi's
Commentary with me.
"Until I was twenty-three years old, I studied at
different Talmudical schools in Posen, and having
attained to that degree which qualified me for the
office of a rabbi, I returned to my father's house,
where I devoted myself entirely to the study of the
Talmud. You are well acquainted with the course
of life led at rabbinical schools; I have therefore no
occasion to give you here an account thereof. I lived
earnestly engaged in this study, because it was my
parents' warmest wish; and I moreover hoped thereby
to attain to a high position amongst my nation, and
flattered myself that I should hereby be qualified for
the community of the Chassidim, and consequently to
reach the presence of God.
"I plunged myself into the deep labyrinth of
rabbinical subtleties and sophistry; entangled
myself in a chain, composed of thousands of links of
trivialities; exhausted myself in endeavouring to be
enlightened on this, or on that matter; but I only got
deeper and deeper into the labyrinth; not a ray of
light penetrated its dark recesses. At length the
employment became exceedingly disagreeable to me;
the zeal which was so ardent in my youth (alas! it
was a blind zeal), cooled more and more in proportion
as it became clearer to me that the words of the
different rabbis, the former and latter, are truly not
agreeable to God's most Holy Word; and I discovered,
that the persuasion that their ways lead to the truth
is a vain persuasion.
"I was about twenty-five when with a painful heart
I perceived this. I had no firm foundation to rest
upon; nothing on which to lay hold. I stood as on
broken ground; my heart torn, and nigh to perish
with anguish. About this time I was teacher in a
town in Germany, where I had above twenty pupils,
whom I had to educate, and bring up as men and
Israelites; and every Saturday I had to deliver a
public lecture on portions of the Old Testament. All
this placed me in a terrible condition; I had to
preach up and defend that, against which my heart
revolted; dissemble I would not, yea, I could not.
"In the early period of my life as a teacher, I was
zealous for the rabbinical Judaism of the present day.
I tormented and exhausted myself endeavouring, by
the works of the law, to lead a life pure and holy
before my God; for even when a child I conceived
sin to be an abhorrence to God; the thunders of
Sinai sounded and resounded in my heart; the
mighty word proceeding out of the mouth of the
Almighty God, 'cursed is he who does not keep my
law,' pressed me down to the ground at that early
period of my life; as with flaming letters it was
written in my heart, 'God is a holy God! God is a
righteous God! who abhors sin; in whose presence,
none but those who are pure, and free from sin, and
who live for him only, can abide.' From all my toil,
however, I found no peace; far, far from me was the
rest for which I so much longed.
"I had intercourse with a few individuals who called
themselves Christians. I sought them out for the
purpose of discussing with them scientific subjects,
and now and then to study the Old Testament with
them; of these some were students in theology, and
others teachers; they used to assail the revealed
word of God most terribly. Through them I became
acquainted with the criticisms of de Wette, Eichhorn,
Dinter, and others, and it was not long that I stood
up a zealous defender of modern Judaism; I became
a rationalist. We are deceived! exclaimed I to my
community, terribly deceived! the Talmud and the
Psakim are a tissue of errors, and so forth. Still the
storm in my heart did not subside; it continued to
roar and to rage; I was not free; before it was
chains of superstition that shackled my heart, now
those of unbelief; chains forged by profane hands,
by such fools as say, 'There is no God.'
"As I looked on these contradictions, and on this
work of ungodly men, I trembled, and entered the
field against these impudent deniers of God; but
with weapons, alas! I knew not at that time, and so
I was in a terrible condition. I felt as if closed in by a
wall; I panted after the breath of life; I longed after
liberty, and hoped that the enigma would solve itself;
but far off appeared to me the hand which should
lead me into the haven of peace; and the light which
I searched after in all the writings of men, proved
but darkness; they were broken cisterns, and my soul,
which was languishing and nigh to perishing, did not
find the water of life. I lay at times the whole night
on the hard floor, chastised my body, yearned and cried
aloud. The old Jews, to whose knowledge these
austerities came, held me for a saint; and the modern
Jews said to me: 'Don't be a fool.' Oh! these were
years of anguish and terror; I was often nigh to
despair. The compassion and grace of God, whom
I did not know at that time, alone held me up; the
hand of the mighty covenanted God of my
forefathers covered me, and it was His eternal love
that preserved me from sinking.
"I tore myself with force from the circle of those
who surrounded me, and I was chiefly alone and
secluded. I betook myself, as it were, to a desert of
books. Alas! the speculations of men only filled my
head, while my heart remained empty. My thirst
after the truth, after God's truth, was not quenched;
I read now and then in the Pentateuch; but the books
of the Old Testament were locked up to me, and the
old and new commentaries of the rabbis did not
satisfy me. That the New Testament is a key to the
Old I had not the least conception at that time; and,
as I was then an enemy to Christianity, I never read
the New Testament.
"At this time of severe struggle, I received a visit
from my father, to whom I communicated my distress
of mind; it pained him deeply, and he pressed me to
return home with him immediately. To my question,
'What shall I do then?' he replied, 'You shall do
nothing else but learn the Torah, you have no
occasion to trouble yourself about earthly things, and
as soon as you shall be seated in the circle of the
Chassidim and students of the law, it will be well with
you.' Family matters obliged my father to return
quickly, and I begged him to allow me to remain for
a short time longer in Germany, until I should be
enlightened on that which distressed me so much.
Shortly after that I was sent for by a Jewish community,
in the north of Germany. I hurried thither
with joy, where I took possession of a very pleasant
post.
"My heart, however, remained wounded, and peace
was far from me. The Jews of that place were very
indifferent about religion, and it was not required that
I should deliver a public lecture on the Sabbath. I
looked for religious men, but amongst the Jews there
was not one in whom there was a striving after the
only good; my exhortation to them to elevate
themselves to the fulness which cometh from God,
and my admonitions, were all in vain; nevertheless,
the pupils clung to me with much love; and they
listened to me attentively when I related to them the
history of the kingdom of God in the time of the Old
Testament dispensation.
"But my heart continued cold even here; the great
deeds of God filled me with awe, and the history of
our people, as well as my own course of life, only
opened more the wounds of my heart. 'The Balm
of Gilead' I knew not, and the instruction I imparted
was only mechanical, without life, and without
warmth.
"I visited the clergymen of this town, and I found
some of them different from any I had seen before;
they talked of the revealed word of the Old Testament,
with warmth of heart and enthusiasm, and I heard
for the first time a powerful testimony to the Christian
doctrine; my whole heart was stirred up against it,
the ground burned under my feet, and I hurried
away purposing never to return again.
"Still there remained a thorn in my heart. The
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah as well others in the Old
Testament, to which my attention was drawn, were
too strong for me; doubt raged in me, and the
questions, What if it be really true? What if the
Christians are right? left me no peace.
"A few weeks elapsed, and I could no longer
endure my trouble; I greatly desired to be enlightened,
and that, by means of the common medium of
all truth, Holy Writ alone.
"I began to read the New Testament, and to
compare it with the Old, and it wonderfully unfolded
itself to me; more and more I discovered the great
mystery of redemption. In the Old Testament,
in all God's contrivances, a voice called to
me, and I heard the voice of God, through Moses and
the prophets, saying: Jesus Christ the crucified, is
the true Messiah, the true Saviour, whose name is
Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness. I was
roused especially by the ninth chapter of the Acts; I
was made acquainted, after much wrestling and fervent
prayer, that Jesus is the source of salvation, and of
eternal life to all, who, by the efficacy of His blood,
are cleansed from the guilt and pollution of sin, and
through Him can call God, Abba, Father. I perceived
that faith in the triune God is the victory which
vanquishes the world.
"I could not remain silent about this; my heart
was filled with it; I tasted the friendship of God, I
rejoiced and was constrained to exclaim, 'My
Redeemer liveth;' and this I announced to my pupils,
talked of it in the circles of Jewish families, and
publicly and aloud gloried in the ground of my hope
in the rich promise vouchsafed to me, by the mouth
of a mighty covenant God: Be comforted, all thy
sins are forgiven thee, thy debt is paid and annulled,
through the great and only atoning sacrifice, through
'the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world.'
"There was a tremendous tumult among the Jews;
some of them came to me, and gave themselves much
trouble by various means to turn me away from the
Lord, mine and my father's God. The community
wrote all about it to my father, from whom I received
a letter which placed me in a most painful position.
He prayed and cried, 'Come to us, and remain a
Jew.' My mother received from this news a severe
blow, and she was laid on a bed of sickness, and great
were her sufferings; my sisters, brothers, and
relatives mourned in secret. It was a hard struggle—life
and death depended on my decision.
"I cried and wept bitterly, and riveted myself firmly
to the word of life, that alone should be my guide, my
stay, and my staff; and praised be God, the Sun of
Righteousness lighted me, and His beams fell warm
and full of life on my heart.
"'Whoso loveth father and mother more than Me,
is not worthy of Me.' This was spoken by Him who
has power to save and to condemn. I could not do
otherwise than obey Him, who once said to the
patriarch Abraham, 'Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will show thee.' I was obliged to
tear asunder the ties which bound me to my beloved
relatives, who still remain dear to me; painful as it
is to flesh and blood, I was constrained to do so for
the Lord's sake; and I exclaimed aloud in the
presence of the Jews who at this time surrounded me,
and who, not knowing what they did, endeavoured
to hurl me down to the abyss of destruction: 'I
cannot do otherwise, I must acknowledge Him, I
must believe on Him, who is my Redeemer and
Saviour; His name is Jesus Jehovah; I cannot do
otherwise, should they on account of it cut me in
pieces. Woe unto me, if I deny Him, the Lord
Jesus; therefore it is well with me, that I perceived
through the grace of God, that Jesus Christ is the way,
the truth, and the life, praised be His name. Amen.'
"Now was I able to rejoice, and with David to
exclaim, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not
all His benefits' (Psalm ciii. 2).
"After I had been duly instructed in the saving
truth of the Gospel, I was publicly baptized in the
name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, on December
9th, 1839, by the Rev. Mr. Müller."
Neuman, Rabbi, was converted through his intercourse
with a Christian merchant in Leeuwarden,
Holland. He afterwards translated the tract,
"Light at Eventide," into Dutch. ("Jewish
Intelligence," 1855.)
Neuman, Dr. R., was born at Brody in 1788. His
father was a rabbi and gave him a Talmudical
education. In 1807 he came to Dessau in Germany,
where he wrote a Commentary on Amos, Nahum and
Malachi, and became a director of a free school for
poor children at Breslau. Through his intercourse with
two Christian professors, and especially with the L.J.S.
missionaries McCaul and Becker in 1823, he learned
to know Jesus as his Saviour, and was baptized there,
together with his wife and three sons, by Professor
Scheibel, in the Elizabeth Church. A Dr. Cohen,
who was a teacher under him, followed his example.
Subsequently he rendered service to the L.J.S. by
revising the text of the Hebrew New Testament.
He died in 1865.
Neumann, Karl Friedrich, was born in Reichmansdorf
in 1793, studied at Heidelberg and Munich, and
was baptized at Munich in the Evangelical Church in
1818. Subsequently he went to Venice and studied
Armenian. In 1828 he went to Paris, and in 1829 to
London, and from there to China. There he collected
several thousand volumes of all branches of literature,
which are now in the library of the Munich University.
He became professor in 1833, M.P. in 1848. In 1863
he retired to Berlin, where he died in 1870. Some of
his works are the following:—"Die Völker des
südlichen Russlands" (Leipzig, 1847.) "Geschichte
des Englischen Reiches in Asien"; "Geschichte der
Afghanen"; "Geschichte Oestreichs"; "Geschichte
der Vereinigten Staaten." A translation of Gützlaff's
"History of the Chinese Empire"; "Geschichte der
Armenischen Literature," Leipzig, 1834, and English
translations of Armenian Chronicles.
Newman, Rev. C. S., was first in the service of the
Scotch Church and laboured at Jassy and at Constantinople.
In 1855 he resigned, and after joining
the Church of England was sent by the L.J.S. to
Constantinople, where he laboured successfully until
he was called to higher service.
Newman, Rev. Louis, a convert and student of the
L.J.S., was ordained in the American Episcopal
Church, and laboured among the Jews in Philadelphia
with blessed results all his life. He was a great
Hebrew scholar.
Nurnberg, Rev. Nahum, was born in Russia, his
father dying very early. His mother and her children
then went to live with her father, who was a strict
Jew, and as such Nahum was brought up. When
about nine years old an uncle adopted him and took
him to Breslau to be educated. He became a
favourite with the proctor of the University there
and at Berlin, and through them he obtained a good
deal of tuition. He also did journalistic work, and in
1851 he came over to England to report on the Great
Exhibition. He stayed on in Hull as a correspondent.
Whilst there he came under the influence of the
Rev. John Deck, by whom he was eventually baptized.
Later on he was, after finishing his course at the L.J.S.
missionary college, appointed a missionary of that
Society, first in England, and then in Roumania, but
returned to this country as his real home after a year's
work, owing to the death of his wife. Soon after he
took orders, and engaged in parochial work, until
1879, after which he retired, until his much lamented
death on January 30th, 1904.
Oczeret, Rev. Leo, a native of Tarnopol, Galicia,
was converted in Jerusalem, and studied afterwards
at the college of the L.J.S. in London. His
Jewish fiancée also became a Christian. After being
stationed in Paris for about two years he was sent to
Jerusalem and was ordained by Bishop Hannington.
In 1884 he was sent to reopen the mission at Safed,
and at first he had trouble with the spirit of fanaticism
which had ever existed among the Jews there; but
gradually, by patience and love, he won the hearts of
many, so that when he became ill they came to visit
and console him. One old man even assured him
that during a whole fortnight he recited fifty Psalms
(according to the custom of pious Jews during illness)
for his recovery. Oczeret went at last to a hospital
in Vienna, whence he wrote to the Committee,
"Let the Lord's will be done! Pray for us all.
I do not give up every hope yet to work for my
Lord and Master, and to serve faithfully the
Committee, to whom I am wont to look as to a
father." But though still young, he had finished his
course, and went to receive the crown of glory.
Palgrave (Cohen), Sir Francis, born in London,
July 1788, died there July 6th, 1861, son of Mayer
Cohen, a member of the London Stock Exchange. He
was an infant prodigy. At the age of eight he made
a translation of Homer's "Battle of the Frogs" into
French, which was published by his father (London,
1796). He embraced Christianity, and married a
daughter of Dawson Turner, the historian. He was
called to the bar in 1827, devoting himself to
pedigree cases. In 1832 he published "The Rise
and Progress of the English Commonwealth,"
which is generally regarded as the earliest important
study of English constitutional history founded
on the records. He was knighted in that year, and
became deputy-keeper of Her Majesty's records,
in which capacity he issued twenty-two annual
reports of great historic value. His most important
work is "A History of Normandy and England,"
4 vols., London, 1851-63. Palgrave had four sons
each of whom attained distinction of various kinds.
Palgrave, Francis Turner (1824-1902), editor of the
"Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics,"
Professor at Oxford.
Palgrave, Robert Harry Inglis (born 1827), editor
of "The Dictionary of Political Economy."
Palgrave, Sir Reginald Francis Dunce (1829-1903),
Clerk of the House of Commons.
Palgrave, William Gifford (1826-88), Eastern
traveller and author of "A Year's Journey through
Central and Eastern Arabia" (London, 1865) and
other works.
Palotta, Professor C. W., a native of Hungary,
by birth and education a gentleman. Coming to
England early in the sixties of the nineteenth
century he was induced by a friend to attend the
lectures and classes of Dr. Ewald, and after due
instruction was baptized in the Jews' Chapel,
Palestine Place. Not long after, he was sent by
L.J.S. as missionary assistant to the Rev. F. G.
Kleinhenn, at Bucharest, whose daughter he married.
From 1866 he laboured for two years itinerating
through Servia and Bosnia. He was the first
missionary who took the Gospel to the Jews in
those countries. In 1868 he was stationed at Jassy,
where he laboured until 1871, when he settled at
Vienna as a professor of languages. Palotta was a
gifted man and zealous missionary, and throughout
his Christian life he took a great interest in the
mission to the Jews, and voluntarily helped them
in Vienna and also in Paris during the exhibition
in 1879.
Pauli, Rev. C. W. H., was born in Breslau in 1800
and was named Zebi Nasi Hirsch Prince. His
father who was a rabbi, gave him a thorough rabbinic
education. Already at the age of 21, being then
a religious teacher, he published "Sermons for Pious
Israelites," in which he emphasized the teaching of
the Bible rather than that of the Talmud. Whilst
thus endeavouring to teach pure Mosaism he came
in contact with the L.J.S. missionary, C. G. Petri
of Detmold, and received from him a New
Testament, of which he began to make use in his
teaching. The Jews then declared him crazy, and
he resigned his office and went to Detmold. From
there he was sent to Minden, where he was baptized
December 21st, 1823. His sponsors were Baron
Blomberg and Major Grabowski. The former, who
through the influence of the L.J.S. founded the
mission at Detmold, then recommended Pauli as a
missionary to the Posen Society. A year later
he went with Petri to England and studied at Cambridge.
From there he was called to be Lecturer of
Hebrew at Oxford. In this capacity he laboured there
for thirteen years, during which time he wrote various
books, his "Analecta Hebraica" deserving special
mention. In 1840 he received a call from the L.J.S.
to go as a missionary to Berlin, where, by his learning
and piety and loving disposition, he made a salutary
impression upon the Jews. In 1844 he was transferred
to Amsterdam, and laboured there till 1874. The
results of his activity there appeared from time to
time in the "Jewish Intelligence." He then retired to
Luton, where he died in 1877, with the words upon
his lips: "Into Thy hands, O God, I commend my
spirit. My Saviour is near."
Pauly, a Jewish savant, was baptized at Hamburg
in 1810. He lived with an unbelieving brother in
Berlin, at the time when Pauli was stationed there, who
had the privilege of administering the Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper to him on his dying bed when he
was eighty years of age (Annual Report, 1843, p. 60).
Philippi, Dr. Friedrich Adolf, was born in Berlin in
1809. His father was a banker and belonged to the
circle of the Mendelssohns. Philippi received Christian
impressions at school, and in riper years he received
from a fellow student a treatise entitled "Glocktöne,"
by Court Chaplain Strauss, which caused him to
attend his sermons. His uncle Jakobi, the mathematician,
had at that time become an Evangelical
Christian. This event, too, caused him to seek for
the truth until he found it for himself and was then
baptized by Pastor Zehme in Grossstädtel, near
Leipzig, in 1829. Later on he studied theology under
Hengstenberg, and became professor at Dorpat and
later at Rostock. He was the author of the following
works:—"Die Lehre von dem thätigen Gehorsam
Christi," 1841; "Glauben's Lehre," 1853; a
posthumous work, published by his son, "On the
Epistle to the Galatians and the Synoptics." He
died on August 29, 1882.
Pick, Aaron, Biblical scholar, was born at Prague,
where he was converted to Christianity and lectured
on Hebrew at the University. He lived in England
during the first half of the nineteenth century, and
was the author of translations and commentaries of
various books of the Bible. His works comprised
a literal translation from the Hebrew of the twelve
Minor Prophets (1833), of Obadiah (1834), and of
the seventh chapter of Amos, with a commentary.
In 1837 he produced a treatise on the Hebrew
accents, and in 1845 he published, "The Bible
Student's Concordance." He was besides the author
of a work entitled, "The Gathering of Israel or the
Patriarchal Blessing as contained in the Forty-ninth
chapter of Genesis. Being the Revelation of God
concerning the twelve Tribes of Israel, and their
ultimate Restoration."
Pick, Abraham, a native of Senftenberg, Bohemia,
was influenced by his brother Israel to examine the
evidences of Christianity, and then had intercourse with
a Scotch missionary, the Rev. Daniel Edward, in 1866,
and at last was brought to the Lord by the Rev. Abraham
Herschell, who also baptized him in 1869 at
Stuttgart together with his wife. His daughter
Catharine was already baptized through Edward,
at Breslau in 1857. His daughters, Rosie and
Philippine, were baptized at Kaiserswerth by
the Scotch Free Church missionary, Van Andel,
and his daughter Regina and his son Joseph were
baptized at Kornthal in 1878. His daughters
Charlotte and Therese were baptized in Switzerland
by Pastor Bernoulli, and Elizabeth was baptized by
Pastor Axenfeld in Cologne. The whole family
became in various ways useful workers in the service
of the Master, and in 1879 they had the joy of knowing
that seven of their relatives had confessed Christ in
baptism. Abraham Pick became afterwards the agent
of the British and Foreign Bible Society at Lemberg,
where he laboured for many years in spreading the
Word of God in Galicia and in the Bukowina, where
he and his family were almost the only sympathizing
friends of the L.J.S. missionaries.
Pick, Israel, a brother of the above, had received a
strict Talmudical education. When he came to the
age of discretion he began to waver between rabbinic
orthodoxy and freethought, but he felt an inward
call to do something great for the emancipation of
his brethren and for restoring the Jewish kingdom.
At first he was engaged in journalistic work at
Vienna, and then he became a preacher and teacher
in a synagogue at Bucharest, where he endeavoured
to infuse vital religion into the congregation, but had
to leave them disappointed. His enthusiasm for the
temporal and spiritual welfare of his people caused him
to correspond with missionaries and to lay before
them a plan for the establishment of a Hebrew Christian
National Church. He also addressed a letter to
that effect to the Jews in Amsterdam in 1853, but
received no encouragement anywhere. At last he
embraced Christianity and was baptized by Daniel
Edward at Breslau in 1854. On this occasion he
wrote: "A Word to my People," afterwards "The Star
of Jacob," "Kol nidre night," "Is there no Physician
there?" In all these writings he displayed almost a
prophetical spirit, speaking from the fulness of a heart
inflamed with love to his people, and no less to
his Saviour. This enthusiasm led him eventually
in 1859 to Jerusalem, and then he was heard of no
more. The probability is that he was killed somewhere
in Palestine.
Pick, Joseph, after studying in Basel and in the
L.J.S. College, was appointed missionary at Strassburg
in 1877, and in 1888 he was transferred to Cracow.
He was a gifted and an energetic man and laboured in
both places under peculiar difficulties. In 1897 he
visited London, and on his return died rather suddenly,
his loss being deeply felt by all who knew him.
Pick, Rev. Dr. Bernard, was baptized in Berlin in
1861. Later he went to the United States, where he
studied theology and was appointed to a church at
Rochester, New York. He was a prolific writer. The
following were from his pen: "The Mission among
the Jews," in the Encyclopædia of Biblical, theological
and ecclesiastical literature (New York, 1881,
pp. 166-177). "The Talmud, what it is and what
it knows about Jesus and His followers" (New York,
1887). "Luther as a Hymnist," 1888. "Historical
Sketch of the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem,"
1887.
Pieritz, G. Wildon, born at Klecko in Posen, in
1808, baptized 1835, laboured as a missionary of the
L.J.S. in the forties of the nineteenth century at Jerusalem,
in Damascus, and subsequently settled at
Oxford, where he was engaged in teaching. He was a
learned and spiritually-minded man, as his articles
in the "Hebrew Christian Witness, 1874-5," testify.
He was the author of "The Gospels from the
Rabbinical Point of View," London and Oxford,
1873.
Pieritz, Rev. Joseph Abraham, was a missionary
of the L.J.S., stationed at Bristol in 1844, and laboured
amongst the Jews generally in the West of England,
also in Dublin and other places. He afterwards went
out to British Guiana, and became rector of the
parish of St. Patrick, Berbice, where he died in 1869,
aged sixty-five, as the result of a carriage accident.
His funeral was taken by the Bishop, and was attended
by over 2,000 persons.
Polan, Rev. Mark, was born at Wilna, a
town known as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania,"
where a high type of Judaism prevailed and where
Rabbinical learning flourished, and where also the
Greek churches mostly represented a sensuous and
ritualistic Christianity. At Wilna there is a flourishing
trade in cereal products, and Mark's father was a
corn merchant. His parents gave him a rigorous
religious training. His mother could speak Hebrew
well, and the boy was instructed in the Talmud and
other Rabbinical writings. As an illustration of the
sectarian rigour of the Jews at Wilna, it may be
mentioned that a law having been passed compelling
education in the Russian language, the Jews proclaimed
a Fast and made provision for the private
tuition of their children.
Young Polan left his native place in 1872 intending
to proceed to Australia and join a relative there.
A change of plan, under pressure from home, led him
to linger first at Königsberg and then in London.
In London he soon came in contact with missionaries.
His aim, however, was not enquiry but
opposition. Rumours then reached his friends that
he had become a Meshummad, but careful enquiries
satisfied them that their suspicions were mistaken
and he was left unmolested.
But the living God was also watching and guiding.
Gradually his attitude to Christianity began to change.
For one thing, the absence of images in the English
churches made an impression upon him. The first
Christian book that he read was the "Pilgrim's
Progress" in Hebrew. Then there came eager readings
of Commentaries written on St. Luke, Acts,
Romans and Hebrews by Dr. Biesenthal, once a
rabbinical Jew; he was thus led to a careful study of
the New Testament. In the Rev. Theodore Meyer
the enquirer at last found a wise and loving instructor
and friend. From the first, Mr. Meyer's erudition
and sincerity drew forth the confidence and interest
of the young Jew.
After four years' instruction, Mr. Polan came
forward for baptism, and it was arranged to take
place in Park Church, Highbury. An incident, however,
happened which led to its postponement. On the
eve of his proposed baptism he had a dream which
led him to withdraw, and was the cause of severe
and protracted mental struggles. It is said by the
rabbins, and believed by the Jews, that in Paradise
a dark veil is made to hang before the parent whose
child has become an "apostate." In his dream Polan
saw his mother in Paradise behind the dark curtain.
The effect upon his mind was such that he could not
face baptism; nor did he, until nearly a year afterwards.
It may have been that the first decision was
resting mainly upon mental conviction of the truth.
At any rate, there followed more serious consideration
and prayerful searching of the Scriptures, with the
result that a certain word of the Lord reached his
heart and touched it with signal power. The word
was: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in
God, believe also in Me."
Under the power of this word this earnest seeker
emerged into the light. Ultimately, in 1878, he openly
confessed Christ by baptism, the ordinance being
administered by Mr. Meyer in Park Church, Highbury.
The inevitable ostracism and persecution, with their
attendant sufferings, followed. It was a welcome
mitigation to the new convert's trials that his father
did not entirely cast him off. And the spirit in which
he suffered may be gathered from the reply he sent to
his brothers and sisters, when, at his father's death,
they hurled over him their anathemas, telling him that
his name had been expunged from the family register.
"It has caused me great pain," he wrote to a friend,
"but though my name is not now in the family tree,
it can be found in the Lamb's Book of Life."
In those days Mr. Polan was a member of Park
Church, Highbury. The pastor at the time was Dr.
Edmond, who, with Mr. Meyer, proved a spiritual father
to the young Hebrew Christian. There he was surrounded
by strong missionary influences, and through
the Fellowship Association which supported two
foreign missionaries, a desire in him was awakened to
become a messenger of the Cross in the foreign field.
In 1878 Mr. Meyer wanted a helper in his mission
to the Jews, and Mr. Polan was invited to take up the
work. In this opening he recognised a call of God to
give his life to testifying for Christ to his Jewish
brethren. For twelve years he served as a valued
helper of Mr. Meyer, like a son with a father, busily
engaged in district visitation and taking part in the
services. Personal studies also occupied his attention,
and he found time to his great joy and profit to
attend the course of lectures on "Systematic Theology"
delivered at Queen's Square by the Rev.
Principal Dykes.
On the retirement of Mr. Meyer, Mr. Mark Polan
succeeded to the headship of the Mission to the Jews
in East London. In 1888 he became an elder in the
John Knox Church, Stepney.
Poper, Rev. Heinrich, D.D., was born at Breidenbach,
Germany, in 1813. His father died before his
birth, and his mother went back to her home at
Hildesheim. There he prepared himself to be a
teacher, and began to give lessons to Jewish and
Christian children at the age of fourteen. Later he came
to the conviction that the Talmud was not in accord
with the Bible, and after three years inward struggle,
he came to England and was baptized by Reichardt
in 1839. He was for a time in the Operative Jewish
Converts' Institution, and then in the Hebrew
Missionary College, and in 1844 he was sent as
missionary to Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he
laboured with great efficiency until his departure in
1870. In 1859 Dr. Poper reported that there
probably were from five hundred to a thousand
proselytes in the district. (See "At Home and
Abroad," by the Rev. W. T. Gidney, 1900.)
Posner, Sigismund August (Löbel), was born in
1804, of wealthy parents at Auras in Silesia who gave
their children a strict orthodox education; he
was well instructed in the Bible. When studying at
Berlin, Mr. Lachs, Director of the Deaf and Dumb
Institution, sowed in his heart the seed of the Gospel,
which took root and led eventually to his conversion,
and he was baptized by Pastor Schultze in 1828. His
father was at first grieved, but became afterward friendly
to him. He studied theology and became a very
earnest preacher of the Gospel, so that only decided
Christians liked to hear him. He died in 1849. His
biography was published by Professor Tholuck for
Sunday reading.
Rabinowitz, Joseph, was born at Resina on the
Dniester, September 23, 1837, and died at Kischineff,
1899. He was the son of David ben Ephraim, and
belonged to a rabbinic family. On the early death of
his mother, her father Nathan Neta took him to be
educated at his house. When he was six years of age
he could repeat the Song of Solomon by heart. He
remained with his grandfather till 1848, when he went
to other relations. At the age of thirteen they betrothed
him. Being compelled by an imperial ukase to
acquire the Russian language, his eyes were opened to
a new world of literature, and he began to think for
himself. In 1855 Jehiel Hershensohn (Lichtenstein),
his future brother-in-law, gave him a L.J.S. New Testament
in Hebrew, declaring at the same time that
possibly Jesus of Nazareth might be the true Messiah,
at which news he was very much surprised. However,
the immediate effect was that he left the Chassidim and
went back to Orgeyev to his grandfather, and studied
the Bible more and Russian law, so that he could
act as a solicitor among his people. In 1856, he was
married, and was then regarded as an influential
citizen of the town, especially when it was seen that
he took an active interest in the education of
children and that he contributed important articles
to the Jewish newspapers, and gave lectures at
Kischineff, in which he advocated the principles of
reform and progress. In 1878 he wrote an article in
the Hebrew paper, "Haboker Or," in which he requested
the Rabbis to work for the improvement of the
condition of the Russian Jews by teaching them the
necessity of becoming gradually an agricultural
people, and he showed this by his own example in
cultivating his garden himself. Not long afterward
persecutions broke out in Russia, and he went to
Palestine on a mission of enquiry with a view of
establishing a Jewish colony there. But when he arrived
in Jerusalem and became acquainted with the sad
temporal and spiritual condition of the Jews there, his
heart sank within him, and he was about to leave the
Holy City in despair, but before doing so he went to
the Mount of Olives. There he sat down in deep
meditation, and reviewing the sad history of his
unfortunate people, the thought came to him as an
inspiration: "The key to the Holy Land is in the
hands of our brother Jesus." This thought he made
then the matter and basis of his future work.
Returning to Kischineff, he drew up thirteen theses,
the substance of which was that Jesus is the only
Saviour of Israel as well as of the whole world.
With great courage and enthusiasm he then endeavoured
by word and pen to propagate his conviction,
and gained in a short time many adherents both at
Kischineff and in other towns of Bessarabia. Having
in 1885 published his "Symbol of the Israelites of the
New Covenant" in seven articles, Professor F. Delitzsch
and the Rev. John Wilkinson encouraged him, and in
Glasgow an association was formed in 1887 for the
support of his movement. Rabinowitz was baptized
in Berlin by Professor Mead, of Andover U.S.A.,
in 1885, and henceforth his mission work took a
more decisive but also perhaps a more restrictive
character. He was asked by Provost Faltin, pastor
of the Lutheran Church at Kischineff, to join that
Church, but for good reasons he declined to
do so, as neither he nor his adherents who had just
come out from the synagogue could worship in a church
where there was a crucifix. For still stronger reasons
he could not join the Russian Church as he was asked
to do by the highest authorities. Consequently he had
to build a hall, in which he preached the pure Gospel
as long as he lived. The result of this movement was
that not only Rabinowitz, and his wife and seven
children with his brother and family, and other individual
Jews who heard the Gospel from his lips publicly
confessed Christ as their Saviour, but also that the
attitude of the Jews in general toward the person of
our Lord has since then changed for the better.
Ragstatt, Friedrich de Weile, was born at Metz in
1648. His father David was a teacher in several congregations,
and naturally gave him a good Jewish education.
At the Jewish school, he learned from the Talmud
the old tradition that the Messiah was to come after
4,000 years had elapsed since the Creation. This led
him to enquire, and eventually he was instructed by
Dr. J. Alex. Neuspitzer, pastor of the Reformed Church
at Cleves, in 1671. In 1672 he entered the University of
Leyden, and in 1677 he became pastor at Assenen;
and then in 1680 at Spyk, in South Holland, where he
officiated till he died. Ragstatt was the author of the
following works:—(1) "Jefeh Maréh" (Amsterdam,
1671), written in Latin, in which he endeavoured to
prove, as against the Jewish controversialists, especially
Lipman of Mülhausen, the Messianic mission of Jesus.
A Dutch translation of this work, which contains also
an account of Shabbathai Zebi, was published at
Amsterdam, in 1683. (2) "Viytmunden—de Liefde
Jesu tot de zeelen," ib. 1678. (3) "Van het gnaden
Verbond," ib. 1613. (4) "Two homilies on Gen. xlix. 10,
and Mal. iii.," The Hague, 1684. (5) "Noach's prophetie
van Bekeering der Heyden," Amsterdam, 1688. (6)
"An Address delivered on the occasion of the baptism
of the Portuguese Jew, Abraham Gabai Faro," ib. 1688.
(7) "Brostwepen des Geloofs," ib. 1689. (8) "Jesus
Nazerenus Sions König on Ps. ii. 6," Amsterdam,
1688.
Rapoport, the well-known banker in Paris, was
baptized with his wife, two sons and four daughters,
by Pastor Abric at Passy in 1879.
Ricardo, David, was born in London 1772, of a
Portuguese family, and died in 1823, at Gatcomb Park,
Gloucestershire. He embraced Christianity in his
youth (see Brockhaus, 12, 523) and was therefore forsaken
by his father. He entered the Stock Exchange
with little means and amassed a fortune. He was the
author of "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation,"
1817. In 1819 Ricardo entered the House of
Commons for Portarlington. Nearly all his brothers
became Christians. To his memory there is a
professorship at the London University by the name
of Ricardo.
Ricio, Peter, son of a Jewish jeweller, was born at
Berlin in 1809, and died in 1879; he distinguished
himself as a Christian in his investigations in physical
science. Amongst other works, his "Lehre von der
Rechnungs elementale," became epoch-making and
secured for him the membership of the academies at
Petersburg, Göttingen and Munich, and the degree of
Doctor from Paris.
Rohold, S. B. The story of his conversion is
thus told by himself:—
"It was in the well-beloved city of Jerusalem that
I was born, and there also my early days were spent.
More than half the inhabitants of Jerusalem are Jews,
and mostly very pious, having come from all parts
of the world to be buried in the Holy City when they
die. The belief amongst these Jews is that when
Messiah comes there will be the resurrection, and the
bodies of those who were buried beyond Jerusalem
will have to suffer much rolling until they reach the
city. Thus to prevent this they have their burying
place in the ancient city, being zealous for their
religion, without enquiring as to whether they are
really right in doing so. My father's family was
very well known, belonging to one of the most
pious sects of Jews in Jerusalem. It was the great
delight of my father to speak of his ancestors, who
were great rabbis; and for half a century he occupied
an honoured rabbinical position himself in Jerusalem
(Rosh Hashochatim). My dear mother also, whose
ancestors were leading Jews amongst the rabbis, was
fond of telling us wonderful stories of her grandfather,
who was a famous disciple of the great Geonim of
Wilna. Needless to say, both my parents were
careful to train their children in the religion of their
forefathers. Being the youngest son of the family, I
was much petted, and they did their utmost to bring
me up in the fear of God, and in all the customs,
rites, and rabbinical traditions, whilst they taught
me to look upon Christianity as idolatry. Truly
my parents loved me very much, and did all in their
power to educate me in what they believed to be
right, and their one desire was that I might occupy
the seat of my dear father, to which all my teachers
gave them full hope. Thus the early part of my life
was spent in study within the home circle. It was in
the year 1893 that I had conversation for the first
time with Christians.
"In that beautiful spot, the so-called Garden of
Gethsemane, I one evening met two servants of
God, who began speaking to me. At the time it
seemed that I had gone into the Garden merely
by accident, but now, as one looks back over the
past, it can be clearly seen that a loving unseen hand
was guiding me. These two Christians explained
to me from the Scriptures how that Jesus of
Nazareth is in very deed the promised Messiah,
Israel's greatest hope. As they reasoned with me,
there was one passage of Scripture which I could
not get over, that 'the sceptre shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of
the people be.'
"With this new light upon the Word of God I was
given to understand that the promises regarding the
coming One told not only of His glory and majesty,
but also of His suffering and death (Isaiah liii. and
Psalm xxii.).
"Slowly I began to see how great and true Jehovah
is, and how that His divine word regarding the
Messiah has been literally fulfilled in Jesus Christ. I
saw my helpless condition, and realized as never
before that my own righteousness was as filthy rags.
And oh, what joy came to me, when the gracious
promise of God was fulfilled, a promise which came
to me now with such a new meaning. 'A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you; and I will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put My spirit within you.' (Ezekiel
xxxvi. 26, 27).
"Having then accepted Jesus Christ as my own
personal Saviour, I began to wish that my own loved
ones might know Him, whom to know is life eternal.
But I feared to tell them of my new-found treasure,
and it is impossible for me to describe the unrest and
agony of soul that I passed through in consequence.
It was only at the Throne of Grace that comfort could
be found, and there I sought the strength and help
I so much needed. After this it seemed very clear
that the Lord was speaking to me through His Word,
and was thus answering my prayer for guidance.
The word which came to me was that given to Abram
of old—'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred and from thy father's house, unto the land
that I will shew thee.' (Genesis xii. 1).
"To leave those who are dear to one, the relations
and friends, yes, even to leave all for Christ's sake, is
not easy; yet I knew it would be best to do what
appeared to be the only right thing. It was a hard
command to obey, but still I had the Lord's promises
to take with me,—'Lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world' (St. Matthew xxviii. 20). 'If
ye shall ask anything of the Father in My name, He
will give it you' (St. John xvi. 23). Trusting therefore
in God alone, and persuading myself that He would
be faithful in fulfilling His promises, I started on my
journey. And by the help of Almighty God I came
to England, arriving here as a perfect stranger, not
knowing the language, and without an earthly friend.
It was a time of great temptation, but the God of
my fathers kept me. Letters came from my friends
and relations in Jerusalem, trying to persuade me to
go back, and my dear father said it would bring down
his grey hairs in sorrow to the grave if I did not
return. Truly I felt the presence of my Redeemer,
and realized that He had called me. This joy filled
my heart, and the peace which passeth understanding
was my portion. I praise God for those Christians
who have learned to sympathize with His ancient
people. The Lord raised up kind friends who helped
me through my difficulties, and daily I learned more
of my Saviour's love, and found that 'His goodness
faileth never.' His word says, 'They who put their
trust in Him will never be put to shame,' and as I
trusted, so I proved the truth of it. After spending
some time in England, the way opened for me to
enter the Bible Training Institute, Glasgow.
"Here I had opportunity of studying the Word of
God, for which I was very thankful. At length a call
came for me to enter active service in the vineyard
of the Lord at the Bonar Memorial Mission to the
Jews of Glasgow. On this work the Lord was pleased
to set His seal, sending friends to encourage me, and
in other ways blessing me abundantly."
Romann, Nathaniel, was born at Kobylin, Posen, in
1819, and was educated in the rabbinic schools of Lissa
and Breslau, attending also at the latter place lectures
at the University. From the reformed rabbi, Dr. Geiger,
he learned to reject the Talmud, and from the missionaries
Teichler, Caro, and Cerf, he learned to accept the
Gospel, and to become a whole-hearted Christian.
He then became a teacher in a Christian school at
Zieginhals. In 1851 he was accepted by the L.J.S.
as a candidate for missionary work, and after preparing
himself in their college, he was sent to labour in
Breslau and Berlin, where he discharged his duties
faithfully, becoming a blessing to many Jews, till his
death in Berlin in 1871.
Ronkel, Philipp Samuel Van, was born at
Groningen, Holland, in 1819. His father was a
teacher in a Jewish school, and when Pauli visited
him, he shewed him a New Testament, which he
often read, but concealed it from his son. Pauli said
to him, "You may hide the New Testament from
your son, but you cannot thereby frustrate the
counsel of God." Philipp was well educated in
rabbinic law, but he found no pleasure therein, nor did
the services in the synagogue attract him. He was
brooding upon something which his parents could
not find out. At the age of nineteen he entered the
academy of Groningen, and studied classics. A professor
there drew his attention to the influence which Jesus
exercises upon thinking humanity. From that time
the personality of the Saviour occupied his mind, and
he began to read with delight the poems of Da Costa.
Just then he was requested by the Jewish congregation
at Leerdam to deliver a sermon at the dedication
of a new synagogue, and he took for his text Haggai
ii. 10, and manifested in his sermon that he was
inclined towards Christianity. It then happened that
a Christian pastor visited a poor sick woman, but
she refused to have his services. Ronkel then tried to
see what he could do with her, and succeeded in getting
an attentive hearing from her to his stories about
good women of the Old Testament. She then asked
him to read the Bible, but he had not one with him, and
her own Bible she had torn to pieces when the pastor
visited her. Then she asked him to pray, but he
had never offered up an extempore prayer. In this
perplexity he thought he could repeat the Lord's
prayer in Dutch, which he had learned in Greek.
He then repeated it with such fervour that the woman
shed tears. This was the turning point in Ronkel's
life. He took now the decisive step, and was baptized
on Christmas Day, 1856, Da Costa being one of the
witnesses. He became a true Christian, according to
the testimony of his own father. Later he became one
of the most eloquent preachers in Holland, and the
Lord prospered the work which He had committed
to his hands.
Rosenberg, Rev. L., wrote the following brief
sketch of himself shortly before he died:—"My
parents were by birth Austrian Jews. By occupation
my father was a landed proprietor and my mother
carried on a drapery business. There were four
children of the marriage, three boys and one girl.
I was born on April 5th, 1828. My mother and
three children died at a time when I was too
young to remember them. My father was baptized
into the Christian Church. I received a good
secular and religious education, enough to lead me to
avoid bad company; not so much to honour God as
to honour myself in order to be respected and
esteemed so as to mix with the best society.
"Ignorant of and prejudiced against Christianity,
how wonderful were the dealings of the Lord with me
will be seen from the following record:—About 1841
I visited Constantinople. Here a young Jewish friend
persuaded me, after much effort, to go with him to
a Mission House, where we heard a godly sermon
preached before a gathering of young Israelites, by
the Rev. Dr. Schwartz, who, later on, was Pastor of
Trinity Chapel, Edgware Road, West London, and
also a member of the Committee of the British
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the
Jews. His Scriptural discourse awakened in me a
desire to know more about Christianity, and I often
went to hear him preach at the Chapel of the Prussian
Embassy on the fore-noons of the Lord's Day.
"Having for a few years been convinced of the
truth of Christianity, I studied the Old and New
Testament together, praying morning and evening
for light.
"About 1844 I again visited Constantinople on my
way to Asia Minor for hunting, with a view to becoming
a naturalist by profession, collecting wild animals,
birds, and insects of all sorts for the museum. It was
whilst hunting on the top of Mount Olympus that the
glorious scenery and the power of God's Word, created
as it were, a voice within me, ordering me to leave all
things, and I returned to Constantinople, and was
baptized by Mr. Allen, son-in-law of Dr. Duncan, the
well-known 'rabbi Duncan' of Edinburgh.
"Again I returned to Broussa, and on my own
account I preached the Gospel for a whole year to
Jews, Armenians, and Greeks, from among whom
many, through Divine grace, were converted.
"Thus encouraged I went to Malta, where for about
six years I studied literature and theology in the
Protestant College there, and in return I gave lessons
to boys in different classes, four hours a day. To
complete my preparations for the ministry of the
Church I studied both in London and Edinburgh.
"The Jewish Committee of the Established Church
of Scotland engaged me for about seven years, during
which time I laboured as one of their missionaries at
the stations of Salonica and Smyrna, with encouraging
results, through the Divine blessing resting upon the
Jews, Armenians and Greeks. After this, on my
resignation, I returned to Edinburgh and London.
"Whilst in London the Committee of the Malta
Protestant College, to whom I was well known, and
amongst whom were the late Lords Shaftesbury,
Calthorpe and Kinnaird, engaged me, and I went to
the East to establish British Schools for boys in all
the principal towns bordering on the Mediterranean
and Black Seas. I established in Cairo a large boarding
and day school, and for over two years I worked
on until my health completely broke down, and, acting
upon medical advice, I resigned and came to London.
"On August 21st, 1865, I was engaged by the Committee
of the British Society, and ever since then I
have been labouring, in Adrianople, chiefly among
the Jews, but also among the Armenians and the
Greeks. During the first ten years I baptized forty
Jews, whilst other enquirers of mine have been baptized
in Constantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem and London.
Many unbaptized Jews, Armenians and Greeks, have
also been led to believe in Jesus as the Saviour of
their souls." He died in 1905 after more than forty
years missionary work in Adrianople.
Rosenberg, Samuel, M.D., was baptized at
Constantinople about 1873. He accompanied General
Hicks on his compaign in the Soudan, where he lost
his life with the rest of the expedition.
Rosenbohm, a Jewish convert in Sweden, was tutor
of Hebrew at the University of Upsala, in 1720.
At the Coronation of King Friedrich, he delivered a
rabbinic oration, and likewise at the conclusion of
peace between the Kings of England, Denmark, and
Prussia. (Wolff Bib. Heb. 3 N, 2138 a).
Rosenfeld, J. F. (Asriel), was born in 1807. His
parents brought him up piously, and married him at
the age of fourteen. Coming in contact in Berditsheff
with a Scotchman, he received from him a New
Testament. He then went to Warsaw, became an
inmate in the House of Industry, and learned the
trade of bookbinding, was baptized in 1828, and
afterwards laboured zealously as a missionary in
Poland until his death in 1853.
Rosenstrauch, Max, was born at Lemberg, on
September 1, 1837. His parents Moses and Scheindell,
were strictly orthodox, and brought him up in the
straitest customs of strict Judaism. As he grew up,
they were proud of his Talmudical knowledge, their
intention being that he should become a rabbi. When
seventeen years old, family circumstances compelled
him, however, to go into business, and he was apprenticed
to a merchant, with whom he remained ten years. In
1865, he accepted the post of a schoolmaster in Jassy.
Whilst there he heard of the Hebrew learning of the
Rev. W. Mayer, one of the L.J.S. missionaries, and
formerly a scholar in their mission schools in London.
From him he received a New Testament, which he
read with eagerness, leading him to take Christian
instruction for eighteen months. Soon after this a
strange event took place in his life. He had left
Jassy, and was on a steamer going to Odessa, when
the engine broke down. There being danger,
the Captain called upon all the passengers to pray.
This Max Rosenstrauch felt he could not do in the
Name of Jesus Christ; all he could say was—"Lord,
teach us to pray." Later on the captain gave an
earnest address to the passengers on St. John iii. 14, 15;
this he did not fully understand, but what he did
made a lasting impression upon him. In 1867 he was in
Kischineff, and of this period he says, "It only
awakens in me painful reminiscences. My Talmudical
supports had been broken by the instruction
received at Jassy, and I fell altogether into unbelief.
I could perform neither Jewish nor Christian prayers.
I did not even believe in the existence of God. I
sometimes disputed with the Scotch missionary, Mr.
Tomory, and Mr. Daniel Landsmann, and they
knew me as a thorough infidel Jew. At Odessa I
lived as an atheist, and I had no intercourse with any
Christian. I was busy the whole day at a boarding-school,
under Mr. Trübitsch. At Kischineff my
slumbering conscience was aroused, and an unspeakable
struggle agitated my heart, until the Lord opened
my eyes, and in every page of the Bible I saw the
glory of Him who said, 'I am the Light of the World.'
In His Name I was baptized on Easter Day, 1868."
After some years of missionary work with continental
societies, he joined the London Society for Promoting
Christianity amongst the Jews, in which he remained
till his death, November 3, 1900. The "Prayer-book
for Jewesses" and his "Catechism for Jews,"
which he wrote, have been most useful in his work,
and in that of the above Society generally.
Rosenthal, Rev. Michael, Vicar of St. Mark's,
Whitechapel, who died at the age of 63,
was a converted Jewish rabbi, who for thirty
years carried on an earnest missionary work
among the Jews of East London. The story of his
conversion is a remarkable one. Young rabbi Rosenthal,
a Hebrew of German extraction, was a profound
Talmudist, and as strict and zealous a Jew as was
Saul of Tarsus before the journey to Damascus.
Rosenthal was sent on missions in connexion with
the faith of his fathers to Asia Minor, to North Africa
and other countries, and finally to England. On a
steamboat he met a very learned and able man, who
he believed was a Jesuit. The man was certainly a
Roman Catholic, and he possessed a good deal of
rabbinical lore. Rosenthal, as a strict Jew, observed
all the dietary and other laws of his people, and took
his meals separately. The supposed Jesuit ridiculed
his scruples, and one day, when the young rabbi was
dining alone, touched his bottle of claret, thereby, of
course, rendering it defiled. Rosenthal was angry,
and the man saw this and taxed him with over-niceness
in ceremonial observance. "Do you really
think," he asked, "that God is pleased by your rejecting
things that are good enough for the captain and
other people on the ship, and that you really serve
Him by making yourself so different from anybody
else?" They had some conversation, which left a
great impression on the young rabbi's mind. One
argument used by the supposed priest had considerable
effect. The Jews in the course of their history
during the last nineteen hundred years have acknowledged
no fewer than twenty-four Messiahs, all of
whom have turned out to be false, either impostors
or self-deluded fanatics. Can a nation that has made
the gigantic mistake of accepting twenty-four false
Messiahs claim to be infallible in rejecting a twenty-fifth?
All these false Messiahs have appeared and
been accepted since our Lord lived on earth except
"Judas of Galilee," who was a contemporary of Jesus
Christ. Some time after his arrival in England
Rosenthal became acquainted with Dr. Wilkinson,
then rector of St. Peter's, Eaton Square. The
young rabbi was tremendously impressed by Dr.
Wilkinson's great abilities and spiritual earnestness.
"Here is a Christian," he said to himself, "who is
absolutely sincere and of great intellectual power.
Can Christianity be merely a modern form of Paganism
when such noble souls as these profess it?" He
listened to Dr. Wilkinson, and was on the way to
conversion when the good rector advised him to have
recourse to the learned Dr. Ewald, a celebrated Jewish
missionary of the L.J.S., for the solution of difficulties
which only a Hebraist could deal with
successfully. Rosenthal was eventually baptized by
Ewald. He took orders in the English Church, being
ordained deacon by Dr. Jackson, Bishop of London,
in 1877. Four years later he was admitted to the
priesthood, and he served for thirteen years as curate
to the Rev. S. J. Stone, author of "The Church's One
Foundation," at St. Paul's, Haggerston, devoting
himself chiefly to mission work among the East-end
Jews. He organized the East London Mission to the
Jews, which first came under regular diocesan
management when the present Bishop of London was
Bishop of Stepney. In 1899 Bishop Creighton
presented Mr. Rosenthal to St. Mark's, Whitechapel,
a parish which is inhabited almost entirely by Jews.
He met with a good deal of hostility from the Jews
in the first years, but he talked straight to them and
gradually the opposition died down, and he steadily
pursued his mission work among them. His labours
were attended with considerable success. He said
that he had himself baptized over six hundred Jews
and Jewesses.
Rosenthal, Wildan Charles (Simeon), a learned
Jew in Jerusalem, was baptized with his wife, son
and daughter by Nicolayson in 1839. This family
were the firstfruits of the L.J.S. mission in the Holy
City. His daughter became the wife of Mr. Bergheim,
the banker, a Jewish convert.
Rossvally, Dr. Max L., an American Jewish convert
in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He had
been an actor, and after his conversion became well-known
as a lecturer in America and in England. He
displayed great zeal in his endeavours to form a Hebrew
Christian Union, and in 1877 it is recorded that two
hundred converts were united together and held
monthly meetings in New York and in Brooklyn.
Rossvally wrote "The Dying Trumpeter and his
Experience," a German version of which appeared in
Hamburg, in 1891.
Ruben, Maurice, was born in Prussia, in 1856. His
people were typical Jews, strict in their customs and
in the observance of Jewish laws and traditions. He
came to the United States when he was sixteen years
of age. In 1895 he had the position of department
manager in one of Pittsburg's largest stores. His
brother was half owner of this enterprise. Plans were
under way to admit him into a partnership in the
firm, which would have made him to-day—had he
chosen "the way of the world"—a man of wealth,
with an annual income of 15,000 dollars.
Just prior to this he had married a charming and
accomplished Jewess. In the matter of religion he
had wandered from Judaism to infidelity. Being
dissatisfied with unbelief, he began to "search the
Scriptures"—both the Old and New Testament—which
resulted in the opening of his eyes; he began
to appreciate his own sinfulness, and was thoroughly
convicted of sin, the need of repentance, and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. His conversion took place on
March 19th, 1895, and resulted in a most striking
change of both conduct and thought.
He continued to engage in earnest studies and to
make it known to his friends and acquaintances that
he had found Him of whom Moses and the prophets
wrote, even the Messiah. Some months later he felt
called upon to announce his determination to forsake
business and become a servant of the Lord among his
own people, believing he was being led by God even
as his forefathers Abraham and Moses.
As a result of his decision he was baptized, and set
out to illumine the spiritual darkness of "his brethren
according to the flesh."
The Jews were very greatly disturbed at this
conduct of one of their prominent young men, and
here the trials and troubles of Maurice Ruben began.
They made repeated efforts to induce him to forsake
his "change of life," but their efforts were futile. His
wife ostensibly left their comfortable home with her
mother to visit friends in the West.
On a Sunday evening in August, subsequent to his
conversion, he was awakened from his slumber by the
ringing of the door-bell. Responding thereto he
found himself face to face with two policemen. He
was placed under arrest and taken to the police
station without a warrant of law.
He was given no explanation as to the charge
which had been preferred against him, and neither on
Sunday nor Monday did a magistrate appear to
give him a hearing. He was, however, visited twice
by two physicians, who conversed with him in a
mysterious manner. They introduced themselves as
insanity experts. Two days and two nights in a felon's
cell, with worse than a criminal's treatment, was a
most trying circumstance. Yet God was there to
minister strength unto him. (St. Luke x. 19.) He
was visited on the second day by his wealthy brother,
who kindly informed him that he had been crazed by
religion and was to be sent for treatment to a
sanatorium. He was taken that evening by officers of
the law to an asylum for the insane.
In the course of a few days he was pronounced by
the superintendent of the institution to be a perfectly
sane man, but he was unable to release him. His
Christian friends endeavoured to intercede for
him, but without avail, and consequently this tried
child of God was called upon to endure the humiliation
of five weeks' confinement in a mad-house, and given
the same treatment accorded to hundreds of demented
folk in the institution.
He was visited several times by his wealthy brother
who offered him his liberty if he would leave Pittsburg
and go West, but he took a firm stand and gladly
refused to do anything except to remain in the city
and preach the Gospel of the Son of God to his
brethren. A man of considerable business interests in
the city, Mr. J. B. Corey, finally heard of him through
the daily papers, and was led to call upon him in
company with a number of the officials of the
institution. Mr. Corey and the gentlemen found Mr.
Ruben in his little room reading the Bible. A short
conversation satisfied the visitors that steps must be
taken to obtain the freedom of this man. Mr. Corey
then instituted habeas corpus proceedings before the
late Judge White.
At the close the judge frankly informed the wealthy
brother and the insanity experts that they and all
connected with this outrageous infamy ought to be
sent to prison, and that the alleged demented man
was saner than those who had pronounced him insane.
Mr. Ruben at once began to prepare himself for his
missionary work, and sometime later opened up
headquarters in Congress Street—the centre of the
Jewish Ghetto—and suffered much persecution. For
the first few years he was interfered with and maligned
in every way imaginable. His street meetings were
frequently broken up, and he was hooted and stoned
by the Jewish element. "All that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." God, however,
led him safely through all his difficulties and trials,
and enabled him to found the New Covenant Mission,
Pittsburg, Pa.[21]
Rubino, Dr. Joseph Karl Friedrich, was born at
Wetzlar in 1799. He became professor at Marberg in
1831. His intercourse with earnest Christians at Cassel,
and especially with a converted Jewess, known in Germany
as Mother Jolberg, led him to investigate the
question at issue between Judaism and Christianity
for himself, and being convinced of the truth of the
latter, he made a public confession of it by baptism
at Cassel in 1842, and lived a consistent life. On the
evening before his death he said to friends, "No other
foundation can any man lay than that is laid, even
Jesus Christ."
Runhold, Karl Wilhelm (Zacharia Lehman), Ph.D.,
was born at Hamburg in 1777. His father was a silk
merchant there. At the age of twenty-two he became an
evangelical Christian, graduated at Rostok in 1812,
and distinguished himself afterwards as a writer. He
edited the "Gemein-nützigen Unterhaltungs blätter,"
the "Allgemeine Theater Zeitung," and the "Archive
für Theater und Literatur" in Hamburg. He
died in 1841.
Sachs, Marcus, was born of wealthy parents in
1812, at Inowrallan in Posen. His father sent him to
an uncle to study at the Gymnasium and afterwards
at the University there. During his studies he lost
his faith in Judaism and became a follower of
Voltaire. In 1842 he went to Edinburgh and
became acquainted with the professor of theology,
Dr. John Brown, who made an effort to win him
for Christianity, and gave him to read the well-known
book of Abbot Guenée "Lettres de quelques
Juifs Portugais, Allemands et Polonais à M. Voltaire."
After he returned it Dr. Brown asked him whether he
would like to read a book which defended the
Christian religion? and on his affirmative reply he
gave him Limbroch's "Amica Collatio cum erudito
Judæo." These two books removed his prejudices,
and he then began to read the New Testament, and
after months of enquiry, deliberation and prayer he
decided to accept Christianity by faith, and was
baptized by Dr. Brown, April 5th, 1843. He
then studied under Dr. Chalmers, and was licensed
to preach, and became tutor of Hebrew in the
Seminary of the Free Church at Aberdeen. He is
described as a most humble and loving Christian
man by Dr. Saphir and others who knew him. He
died there on September 29th, 1869, passing away
with the leaves of autumn, a ripe sheaf into the
garner of God.
Salkinson, Isaac Edward, was born at Wilna,
and died at Vienna, June 5th, 1883. According to
some, his father's name was Solomon Salkind. As
a youth he set out for America with the intention of
entering a rabbinical seminary there; but whilst in
London he was met by agents of the L.J.S., from
whom he heard the Gospel and was converted and
baptized. His first appointment as a missionary to the
Jews was at Edinburgh, where he became a student in
the Divinity Hall. He was ordained a minister of the
Presbyterian Church at Glasgow, in 1859. He was then
a missionary of the British Society in various towns,
including Pressburg, and finally settled in Vienna
(1876). Salkinson translated "Philosophy of the
Plan of Salvation" under the title "Sod ha-Jeshu'ah"
(Altona, 1858); "Milton's Paradise Lost," under the
title "Wa Yegaresh et haadam" (Vienna, 1871);
Shakespeare's "Othello" and "Romeo and Juliet,"
under the titles "Itiel ha kushi" (ib., 1874; preface
by P. Smolensky); and "Ram we-Yael" (ib., 1878);
Tiedge's "Urania," under the title "Ben Koheleth"
(ib., 1876, revised); and the New Testament under the
title "Haberith Hahadasha." The last mentioned
translation was undertaken for the British Society
in 1887; it was published posthumously under the
supervision of Dr. C. D. Ginsburg at Vienna in 1886.
Salvador, Yonkheer Moses, flourished at Amsterdam
in the middle of the nineteenth century. One of
his ancestors built the Salvador house near the Bank
of England. It is said that the Salvadors were direct
descendants of the Maccabees, the Saviours of
Israel, hence the name Salvador, meaning Saviour.
Moses Salvador was intimately acquainted with Pauli
and welcomed him to his house, where they discussed
the subject of Christianity. The result was that he joined
the French Reformed Church, at Haarlem in 1852.
For a long time after his conversion he used to give
Thursday evening lectures on Christianity, which were
attended by Christians and Jews.
Samany, a native of Assesso in Abyssinia, was one
of Flad's early converts there. He had to undergo
bitter reproaches from his mother and relations on
account of his becoming a Christian, but his reply
to his mother was that he loved her now better than
before, and that he would take care of her. Working
on his weaver's stool he at the same time used to
speak to his two sisters of the "pearl of great
price" that he had found, and they too became
Christians. During the imprisonment of the missionaries,
he attached himself to Waldemayer, who
was free. After the arrival of the English expedition
he went to the coast, where he and his companion
Petrus were met by the Jewish traveller Halevy, who
gave them some money and promised to take them
to Paris. Not perceiving at once his intention, they
accepted the money, but they brought it back to him
the next morning, and as he refused to take it back,
they threw it into the sea, although they suffered
hunger at the time. Then they went to Magdala,
and afterwards with Flad to Europe, and were placed
in the training school at St. Chrischona, near Basle.
But as Samany could not stand the climate there,
Flad took him to his own house at Kornthal, and
was then obliged to send him back to Abyssinia.
On his return he and Agashe preached the Gospel
earnestly to the Falashas. Samany continued to
do so even from his sick bed. Conscious that the time
of his departure had come, he asked that the coffin
which he had before prepared for himself should be
placed before him, then saying, "Father, into Thy
hands I commend my spirit," he entered into rest.
Samson, Lewis Paul, was an English Jew by birth,
the son of a Dutch "sopher" (writer of scrolls of the
law and of phylacteries). When a boy he used to
hear Dr. McNeile at St. Jude's, Liverpool, and in
other ways came in contact with Christian influences.
When he became forty years old he was asked by his
children to hear them repeat a portion of Scripture
which they had been taught at school. It happened
to be Isaiah liii., and it proved to be the turning
point in his life. Like many another Jew, he could
not believe at first that it was a part of the Old
Testament, but it led eventually to his baptism by
a Hebrew Christian, who was one of the Society's
missionaries.
His public profession of Christianity made him
an object of abhorrence to his brothers and sisters,
though later on they learned to respect him for his
simple, unswerving faith, and some of them, it is
believed, became Christians. He continued his
occupation, but at the same time was an active
worker in St. Jude's parish, until his appointment
under the Society. He was a man of one book and
that book the Bible, which he knew almost by heart.
Many a Jew was struck by his intimate knowledge
of the Word of God, and none ever doubted his
being a true believer, however much they disliked
his invariably holding up Christ before them. Many
of the poor Jews, both converted and unconverted,
missed him, after his death, as a friend in need, who
often used to minister to their necessities out of his
scanty earnings. At one time, he was known to
have lived for weeks on sixpence a day, to save up the
money which he had borrowed and advanced to a Jew
who either could not, or would not, repay. No wonder
that so many Christians learned to love and respect
him as "an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."
Saphir, Rev. Adolph, D.D. We learn from him
the story of his conversion in one short sentence:
"I, at that time, a lad in my twelfth year, was the first
of our family to accept the Gospel." Mr. Wingate,
who gives an account of the event, says that the Jews
testified to Adolph's being born again from on high.
"We heard that the Jews were saying that the Holy
Ghost had fallen on Saphir's son, and that he expounded
the Scripture as they had never heard it before." In
the autumn of 1843, Adolph went to Dr. Duncan in
Edinburgh, that he might perfect his knowledge of
English, where he remained six months, and then
went to Berlin, and studied at the Gymnasium from
1844 to 1848, acquiring a thorough knowledge not
only of German literature, but also of German
philosophy. In 1848-49, he was tutor in the
family of Mr. William Brown in Aberdeen. In 1854,
after finishing his theological studies, he was ordained
to the Presbyterian ministry, and licensed as a
preacher in Belfast. He then laboured as a missionary
to the Jews in Hamburg for one year. Then he
had the charge of a church in South Shields, and in
1861 he received a call to Greenwich, where people
from various churches flocked to hear him. In 1872
a church was purchased for him at Notting Hill,
where his ministry was always attended by all sorts
of earnest Christians, especially his Thursday morning
lectures. This was also the case wherever he went
to preach. Saphir's love and devotion to his people
and to the cause of missions was boundless. He died
April 4, 1891, a few days after his wife. His last
sermon was on the text, "And Enoch walked with
God, and he was not, for God took him." The
following are some of Saphir's works: (1) "Who is
a Jew?"; (2) "Who is an Apostate?"; (3) "Expository
Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews"; (4) "The
Hidden Life"; (5) "Our Life Day"; (6) "Found by
the Good Shepherd"; (7) "Life of Faith"; (8) "The
Compassion of Jesus"; (9) "The Everlasting Nation";
(10) "Christian Perfection"; (11) "The Unity of the
Scriptures"; (12) "Christ and the Scriptures"; (13)
"The Lord's Prayer"; (14) "Israel's Present and
Future"; and (15) "All Israel shall be Saved."
Saphir, Israel, brother of the famous satirist at
Vienna, was living in Pesth in the first half of the
nineteenth century, where, owing to his erudition and
character, he exercised great influence upon the Jewish
community, and was regarded by them as another
Gamaliel. Coming in contact with the Scotch missionaries,
Dr. Duncan, Mr. Wingate, Mr. Smith and Dr.
Schwartz, he heard the Gospel from them, and when
convinced of its truth he did not hesitate to embrace
it. This is described by his son in a few words:
"Through the instrumentality of the Scotch missionaries
my father saw the truth as it is in Jesus, and
was received into the Christian Church in 1843 at the
age of sixty-three years."
Saphir, Philipp, an elder brother of Adolph, was
rather inclined to worldliness, but became serious
when there was an inundation in Pesth, and he had
tried to save life. In 1842 Rev. Dr. Schwartz passed
through Pesth on his way to Constantinople, and
Philipp heard his addresses to Jews, and was impressed,
becoming conscious of sin and the need of pardon.
He was baptized in the Calvinistic Church of Pesth,
in 1843, by Superintendent Paul Török. He wrote
afterwards to Mr. Schwartz: "I was admitted into the
Church of Christ. I cannot describe my feelings to you.
Ah! the infinite love of God! He has given me
much peace, nothing will deprive me of it. I am
happy, joyful; my soul is with God. I praise
Christ every hour." He then, being nineteen years of
age, went to Carlsruhe to be trained as a teacher, and
on his return to Pesth in 1845, at once set to work
and organized a Y.M.C.A. Becoming ill, he taught
poor Christian and Jewish children gratis from his
sick bed "The Evangelical doctrine as he found it in
the Word of God." He died September 27, 1849,
whilst his father knelt by his side with two friends
engaged in prayer. The daughters of Israel Saphir
all became devoted Christians. One was married
to Rev. Dr. Schwartz, and the other to Rev. C. A.
Schönberger, both well known in the Christian
Church.
Saul, Aaron, was baptized by the L.J.S. missionaries
in 1812. Lewis Way took him to his Seminary.
He however did not become at once a missionary,
but engaged in business and held the office of Clerk
in Palestine Place Chapel, and taught in the Sunday
School for twenty-seven years. He devoted himself
especially to the care of enquirers and to the
circulation of the "Old Paths" and other missionary
literature among the Jews in London. From 1841 to
1843, he laboured as missionary at Brussels, and died
in London, Jews following his funeral.
Sargon, Michael, was born of Jewish parents at
Cochin in 1795, and died about 1855. He was converted
in 1818, through the preaching of J. Jarrett of
Madras, and became the first missionary of the L.J.S.
to the Jews in India. In 1820 Sargon visited his parents
at Cochin, who received him kindly, and for a time the
Jews there seemed to have no objection to discussing
with him his new faith. A local committee was
found in Madras with Sargon as the representative
missionary. Madras became the centre of the Society's
work in India. In 1822 Sargon had 116 Jewish
children under his charge at Cochin, but in 1824 he
was transferred to Bombay, where he opened, under
the auspices of the L.J.S., a school exclusively for
Jews. In Cochin Sargon baptized a Jew and two
Jewesses in 1828. He and his brother Abraham
continued their educational activity for nearly thirty-nine
years after the Society had ceased to give a grant
to the Bombay mission. (Report of L.J.S., 1821.)
Schapiro, B. A. M. One summer morning in the
year 1890 there visited the reading room of the Hebrew
Christian Mission, 17, St. Mark's Place, New York, a
Hebrew lad of nineteen years, with bright eyes and
curly black hair. He had just arrived there from
Germany, although he was a native of Poland. The
boy's keen, intelligent countenance attracted the
attention of the Rev. Jacob Freshman, Superintendent
of the mission, and as several Jewish men were having
a lesson in English, that gentleman suggested that
the young Jew should become a member of the class.
The stranger knew no English, the teacher had no
knowledge of Polish or Russian, consequently their
conversation was carried on mainly by pantomime,
and with the help of one of the scholars, who acted as
interpreter. Jews are naturally fine students, grasping
knowledge with avidity. The new arrival proved no
exception to the rule, and so before the forenoon
ended he had learned the English names of the articles
of furniture in the room, the days of the week, the
numerals from one to ten, and also how to write his
name, "Benjamin Aaron Moses Alexander Schapiro",
in English script. Long after, when he had learned to
speak English with ease, we asked: "Why did your
parents burden you with such a number of names?"
"Because," was his answer, "they hoped and wished
that I might combine in my character, when I came
to manhood, the qualities of patriarch, priest, prophet
and king." He was a fine Hebrew scholar, and carefully
followed in a Hebrew Bible the Psalms which
the other pupils read in English. We found at our
next visit the new pupil awaiting our coming. His
countenance glowed with pleasure, as he cordially
grasped our hand and proceeded to dispose of our
satchel and umbrella. That morning he read several
pages in an English primer. When we went again
we found that Benjamin had taken his departure,
though urged by the superintendent and his kind
wife, for they both had become greatly interested in
him, to make their house his home for an unlimited
period. His proud, ambitious spirit chafed at the
thought of becoming a burden on the hands of
strangers, so he started out to earn his own living, an
entirely new experience in his case. Hitherto he had
never been called upon to solve the three vital
problems: "What to eat," "What to drink," "Wherewithal
to be clothed." His brief stay at the mission
proved, however, a very important epoch in this
young life. The seeds of Gospel truth were sown in
his heart, and afterwards quickened by the Holy
Spirit, sprang up, budded, blossomed, and ultimately
bore the fruitage of earnest work for the Master.
Two years had elapsed since our first meeting. One
evening, at the close of the service in a Hebrew
Christian Church, we were cordially greeted by a
young man. The native dress had been changed for
American, the hair arranged in a different style,
etc. So great was the transformation that at the first
glance we failed to recognize our quondam pupil and
friend. He then told us what had befallen him since
we last met. He had, soon after leaving the mission,
found employment with Mr. Benjamin Clayton, a
butcher at Jamaica, L. I. Imagine, if you can, what
a trial it must have been to one brought up to a strict
observance of the tenets of orthodox Judaism to have
to handle "Gentile" meat, especially the abhorred
pork. A Christian man who dealt at the shop became
interested in the young stranger, seeing him to be
the possessor of talents which ought to be improved
and developed. This kind friend placed him under
Christian tutors.
Eventually Mr. Schapiro was converted, and publicly
confessed Christ, and united with a church in
Brooklyn. Soon after taking this important and
decisive step he was convinced that it was his bounden
duty and glorious privilege to tell the story of a
Redeemer's love to his own people. Very visionary
seemed the project. How could he, a youth who had
not yet attained his majority, a stranger, a foreigner,
a "despised" Jew, without means, with few friends,
accomplish this mighty undertaking? Faith laughs
at impossibilities. Enthusiasm is ever contagious.
A few friends became interested, amongst others Mr.
Horatio S. Stewart, the gentleman who had previously
provided him with a scholarship at Pennington
Seminary. The first Jewish mission work in
Brooklyn was inaugurated in that part of the Twenty-sixth
Ward known commonly as "Brownsville."
Here a colony of Polish and Russian Jews had taken
up their abode. A small hall was hired and services
held on Saturday afternoon. Great was the excitement,
tremendous the opposition. Jews gathered in
crowds, anxious to hear what the youth might have
to say concerning his apostasy from the faith of his
fathers. Men thrice his age plied him with questions
regarding Christianity, quibbles mostly; occasionally,
perhaps, an enquirer might have been moved with
a genuine desire to know the truth. The young missionary,
however, was enabled to possess his soul in
patience, and with quiet dignity to repel their attacks.
The following incidents will serve as representative
specimens of these interruptions: Once, when the
missionary was giving a brief exposition of the first
chapter of St. John's Gospel—"In the beginning was
the Word," etc., "'Logos' as 'word' here is in the Greek
synonymous with 'Memrah' in the Rabbinical
writings," he remarked. A Jew sprang to his feet in
a second. "You cunning Mr. Missionary!" he
shouted—"trying to prove your statements from the
Talmud, which you profess to disbelieve, because you
cannot prove them from the Old Testament!"
Quick as a flash came the rejoinder: "David, in the
thirty-third Psalm, sixth verse, says: 'By the "word"
of the Lord were the heavens established.'" The
assailant was effectually silenced, but so angry was
he at having been outwitted in public by one so much
younger than himself that whenever he chanced to
see the missionary approaching he would quickly
cross to the other side of the street.
On another occasion a Jew said: "You know
perfectly well how wrong and wicked it is for a man
to desert the religion of his fathers. Why, even the
Gentiles despise those who are guilty of such an act!"
"What do you mean by the religion of our fathers?"
was asked in return. "Why, of course, I mean the
religion of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," the Jew
answered. "But Abraham departed from the faith
of his fathers. This 'apostasy' was imputed unto
him for righteousness. You reproach me because
I have departed from the religion of my fathers,
which you claim to be the 'true religion.' Listen
for a moment to the witness borne by Moses and the
prophets concerning the religion of our fathers.
Moses, our great lawgiver, says: 'Understand, therefore,
that the Lord thy God giveth thee not the good
land to possess for thy righteousness; for thou art a
stiffnecked people.' 'You have been rebellious
against the Lord from the day that I knew you.'
Isaiah the evangelist, says of our fathers: 'From
the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no
soundness in it, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying
sores.' 'Ah! sinful nation!' and mark the expression:
'A seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters.'
In another place the same prophet says:
'Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips.' Jeremiah says: 'Can the Ethiopian
change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.'
The weeping prophet declares: 'All these nations
are uncircumcised, and the house of Israel is uncircumcised.'
Jehovah himself says to Ezekiel:
'Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to
a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me;
they and their fathers have transgressed against me
to this very day. For they are impudent children
and hard-hearted.' The suffering prophet again says:
'Thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech,
and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
not to many people of a strange speech, and of an
hard language, whose words thou canst not understand;
surely had I sent thee to them, they would have
hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will
not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken
unto Me, for all the house of Israel are impudent
and hard-hearted.' Jesus the great teacher, said:
'Ye are of your father, the devil.' Now, in view
of all these assertions, can you still insist upon
my still adhering to the 'religion of my fathers.'
You say: 'The Gentiles despise those who have
departed from the religion of their ancestors.' That
statement can be easily disproved from history.
Jesus, Paul and the other founders of the Christian
Church all apostasized from the faith of their fathers.
Luther, a Roman Catholic, became the leader of the
Reformation. Neander, Edersheim, Saphir and a
host of other converted Jews have been indeed 'the
glory of Israel, and lights to lighten the Gentiles.'"
These Saturday services were continued for more
than two years. An evening school, where Jewish
people, employed during the day, could receive
gratuitous instruction in English, was carried on with
a great degree of success. A protracted strike among
the tailors, cloak-makers and operators on men's
clothing, the principal industries of this settlement,
reduced the people to the direst poverty; hundreds
were on the verge of starvation. In this, the time of
their need, Mr. Schapiro, at his own expense, opened
a soup-kitchen in his rooms, himself serving the tables,
and for more than two weeks scores were fed. That
no offence might be given to their prejudices, the
meat was "Kosher," that is, bought at a Jewish
butcher's, and prepared by a Jewish cook. This kind,
thoughtful treatment did much to disarm their
repugnance against him as a Christian. The missionary
also opened a similar mission in the Sixteenth
Ward, Eastern District, where there is a Jewish
population of 50,000, and for nearly a year carried on
the two stations, holding a service at Brownsville on
Saturday morning, and a second one in the new
mission in the afternoon. Finally his committee
deemed it best to confine his labours entirely to the
Eastern District station, as they considered it the
more hopeful field, on account of the large number of
Jews in the vicinity. Meanwhile a denominational
mission had been established in Brownsville. The
Brooklyn Christian Mission to the Jews has from the
outset been interdenominational. This work in the
Eastern District was not inaugurated without opposition.
The missionary and the men who assisted
him in the distribution of the notices for the services
and tracts were targets for the stones of crowds of
Jewish boys. The older people greeted them with
sneers, derision, offensive epithets, and sometimes with
curses. Among the Jewish boys, Samuel ——,
acted as leader and instigator in the attacks. After
a while he ventured into the mission, intending to
create a disturbance, and, if possible, break up the
services, but the story of a Saviour's love fell upon
his ears, and as has many times happened in the
history of missions, he who "came to mock remained
to pray." Samuel was convinced, converted, and for
two years has been a consistent member of a church
in this city.
After seven years of mission work, owing to the
combined labour of carrying on the service and
collecting funds for the maintenance of the mission,
his health broke down and he gave up the work.
In June, 1900, Mr. Schapiro published the first
number of "The People, the Land and the Book."
He had a theory that much of the variance existing
between Jews and Christians had its foundation in
mutual ignorance and misapprehension of their
different religious beliefs. He designed to reach
both parties in a spirit of love.
Mr. Schapiro for eleven years had no home,
no intercourse with his own family. Having
become an "apostate," he was worse than dead to
them. All his overtures for reconciliation were
scornfully rejected. To be cut off from all one's
relatives, to have no home life, is ever a great affliction,
particularly to a Jew, for the Jewish attachment
and devotion to home and family are proverbial. A
Jew who has embraced Christianity can sing in all
sincerity, "Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to
leave and follow Thee," for it is his veritable
experience.
One day he chanced to meet a fellow-townsman,
who, to his great surprise, told Mr. Schapiro of
the latter's cousin, who lived in New York.
Of course he lost no time in hunting up this
relative. At first he was greeted with sharp, bitter
reproach, for his change of faith, but when it was
manifest that his love for Christ had not obliterated,
but rather intensified, his love of kindred, speedy
reconciliation followed. Mr. Schapiro learned that
his father had lost his property, and also that his
eldest son had died. Letters were exchanged, and
complete reconciliation ensued.
The painful situation of the Jews in Russia made
Mr. Schapiro anxious on his family's behalf. Through
the assistance of kind friends he was enabled to bring
over two of his sisters. They reached there one
Thursday, and a week later found employment. There
were still eight remaining at home, father, mother,
brothers and sisters. Through the efforts of the once
deemed lost brother "Joseph" they were enabled to
go, and are now comfortably situated in their own
home in New York.
Mr. Schapiro's life is not lacking in romance. Some
years ago, while he was conducting the mission in
Boerum Street, a pretty Jewish girl of thirteen, whose
parents lived opposite, frequently attended the services.
After a while the family moved and Mr. Schapiro lost
sight of his little friend. After he had left the
mission, and was conducting the magazine, they
chanced to meet again. Their renewed acquaintance
ripened into love, and a year after they were married.
Mrs. Schapiro is a charming little woman, bright and
attractive. Their union has been blessed with a
darling little daughter, Beatrice Sylvia, now nineteen
months old. The former homeless wanderer
rejoices in a pleasant, tastefully arranged home, and
a wife who delights to minister to his comfort, and is
hospitable in the extreme, always welcoming his
friends, and leaving nothing undone which can minister
to their comfort.
This paper has already far exceeded the limits
originally intended; still it seems impossible to close
it without some slight character delineations. Mr.
Schapiro, so the Jews who come from his native place
tell us, is of a good family; his father was a man of
wealth and position, and was noted for his rigid
adherence to the tenets of orthodox Judaism. One
can easily understand how sore a trial it must have
been for such a Jewish father to have his son embrace
Christianity, and what in his opinion was still more
disgraceful, to have that son become a missionary of
the Cross among his own people. Mr. Schapiro is
intensely fond of books, is a good student, ambitious
to be thoroughly educated, and is already quite a
forcible speaker. Fearlessness forms one of the strong
points of his character. He is positive, liberal, without
being a radical, conservative, yet not bigoted.
He has what is an absolute requisite to all who undertake
leadership of any kind—good executive ability.
Naturally sensitive, as a missionary among the Jews
he has had many a fiery ordeal to pass through and
many hard reproofs to bear. But to his credit, be it
said, he has been enabled to retain his patience and
to exhibit a forgiving disposition. He had a very
correct idea of the propriety and reverence with which
all religious services should be conducted. Never
using cant expressions, and although gifted with a
keen sense of the humorous, he never stooped to
ridiculous illustrations, which, though they create
laughter, leave no lasting impression for good. He
has never sought notoriety. Mr. Schapiro is still a
young man, and like all young people, has much to
learn, but if health and strength are granted, he bids
fair to become an able advocate of the Messiah
among his own brethren after the flesh, the Jews.[22]
Schereschewsky, Dr. Samuel Isaac Joseph, from
1877 to 1883 missionary bishop of the American Church
in China. He was born at Tanroggen, in Russian
Lithuania, in the year 1831, and brought up
in the religion and learning of the Jews, graduating
from the University of Breslau. The reading of the
New Testament in a Hebrew translation, which had
fallen into his hands, convinced him of the truth of
Christianity. This must have been the Society's
version, as at that time Professor Delitzsch's and
Salkinson's versions were not in existence; and,
therefore, the Society was the first agent in the
Bishop's conversion. Soon after his confession of
Christ he went to the United States. He acquired
his knowledge of Greek in the Theological Seminary
at New York, which he entered in 1857. The
Christians with whom he first came into contact
belonged to the Baptist and the Presbyterian
denominations; he was baptized by a minister of the
former, and studied theology in a seminary of the
latter body. But before he had finished his studies,
he had learned and acknowledged the position of the
Episcopal Church, and was admitted a candidate for
holy orders under the Bishop of Maryland. In 1859
he was ordained deacon in St. George's Church, New
York, and in the following year was advanced to the
priesthood in China, whither he had accompanied the
elder Bishop Boon on his return from a home visit.
In the autumn of 1861, Schereschewsky made a
translation of the Psalms into the colloquial. This
was his first work. In 1863 he moved to Pekin and
began, with Bishop Burdon of Hong Kong, the
translation of the first Mandarin Prayer Book. The
main part of this book, viz., Morning and Evening
Prayer, the Collects, and the Psalter, were his work;
Bishop Burdon taking the remainder of the Book.
This was completed in 1864. In 1865 a committee
of five leading Chinese scholars, Dr. Edkins, Dr.
Martin, Dr. Blodgett, Bishop Burdon and himself,
undertook the translation of the New Testament into
Mandarin. This is still in use generally throughout
the Empire. The only other Mandarin version in
existence at that time was Dr. Medhurst's "Mandarin,"
which was based on the so-called "Delegates' Version"
in Wen-li. The Bishop began the translation of the
Old Testament himself into Mandarin, in the autumn
of 1865, and finished this colossal undertaking at the
end of eight years. This, with the Mandarin
Testament mentioned above, forms the ordinary
Chinese Bible in general use by Christians in China,
and is read at every service from the lecterns in the
China Mission of the American Episcopal Church,
as mentioned in the organ of the Domestic and
Foreign Missionary Society of the American Church.
In 1875, Dr. Channing Moore Williams, the
American Bishop for China and Japan, having been
assigned to the work in Japan alone, Dr. Schereschewsky
was elected Bishop of Shanghai. With
great modesty and self-distrust he declined the office;
but being again chosen in 1877, he was persuaded
that it was his duty to undertake its labours and
responsibility. He returned as Bishop to Shanghai
in the autumn of 1878, and, in the course of the year
1879, translated the whole Prayer Book into Wen-li,
or classic style, blending with it as much as possible
the English and American Prayer Books, with the
hope that all missions of the Anglican communion
might use it in China. Although this hope was not
gratified, the book was for many years the only one
in use in all the American missions, and formed the
basis of the colloquial versions which have since
superseded it. In 1879 the Bishop went up the river
to Wuchang, and began the translation of the
Apocrypha. He had only completed one book when
he was smitten down during the intense heat of the
summer of 1881, and his physicians ordered his
removal to Europe, whither he went the following
spring. He was under treatment from 1882 to 1886,
at Geneva in Switzerland. In 1883 Bishop Schereschewsky,
unwilling to retain an office whose duties he
could not discharge, resigned his Bishopric.
With wonderful perseverance he now devoted all
his energies of mind, which remained unimpaired, to
the work of bringing the Scriptures within the reach
of the Chinese nation. Fully acquainted with their
language in its different forms, and being not only a
skilful Sinologist, but one of the most learned
Orientalists in the world—and that by the testimony
of Professor Max Müller—using a pen as long as he
could hold a pen, and then, owing to paralysis, working
on a typewriter with the two fingers which he could
control, he translated the Old Testament from the
original Hebrew into the Mandarin dialect, leaving
to a secretary only the reduction of the typewritten
words into the Chinese character. For twenty years,
day after day, in China, and for a while in Massachusetts,
and more recently in Japan, when he was near
a printing-press which he could use, he worked under
disadvantages which would have put an end to the
courage and the labours of almost any other man.
Not long before his death he completed his greatest
work, the translation of the whole Bible, including
the Apocrypha, into the Wen-li dialect. He also
wrote Chinese grammars and dictionaries, and translated
the Gospels into Mongolian, preparing also a
dictionary of that language. He died at Tokyo, on
October 15th, 1906.
We may add the following extract from the Bible
Society's memoir of the Bishop, written by the Rev.
Crayden Edmunds, M.A.:
"His early training, whereby he came to know
Hebrew better than any other language, specially
fitted him to become a translator of the Old
Testament. This peculiar fitness was soon recognised
by his missionary colleagues, who about 1865
entrusted him with the translation of the Old
Testament into Northern Mandarin. He also worked
on the Peking Committee as a translator of the New
Testament. His version of the Old Testament, first
published by the American Bible Society in 1875,
has since been repeatedly issued by both the A.B.S.
and the B.F.B.S. A revised edition appeared in 1899.
But a still greater work was his translation of the
whole Bible into Easy Wenli; he added the New
Testament in this case, in order to secure uniformity;
both Burdon and Blodgett's, and Griffith John's
versions of the New Testament being in a somewhat
different style. This Bible the A.B.S. published
in 1902.
"The significance of Bishop Schereschewsky's
achievements, however, lies not so much in their
extent and scholarship as in their testimony to the
indomitable courage of the man and his devotion to
his work. Six years after his consecration as Bishop
he became paralysed, and had to resign his episcopal
jurisdiction. His malady increased till it left him
with the use of only the middle finger of each hand.
Fortunately his intellect remained unimpaired, and
with these two fingers he was able to type out his
MSS., which were afterwards rewritten in Chinese
characters by his secretary.
"But the toil was well worth while. To this man
alone has it been granted to give to the two hundred
and fifty million Mandarin-speaking Chinese, as well
as to the mass of readers in China, the Oracles of
God as found in the Old Testament. Reviewing,
therefore, his life in the light of these facts, we may
surely trace the divine purpose in taking him from
one task, for which a successor would without
difficulty be found, and setting him free for
another, for which his whole previous life had been
a unique preparation. As a translator his influence
has been far wider than it could have been as a
Bishop, and Chinese Christians will ever remember,
with gratitude to God, the great scholar who out of
weakness was made strong—who laid so well and so
truly the foundations of the Bible in their greatest
vernacular, and in the more popular form of their
written language."
Schlochow, Rev. Emmanuel, was born at Wingiz
in Silesia. His father being indifferent to religion, he
had no religious education, and became only aware
that he was a Jew when his fellow-Christian scholars
mockingly reminded him of it at school. This he
could not endure, and his father advised him to go to
a Roman Catholic priest and be baptized. However,
he was then a thorough infidel, and at one time, on
account of some disappointment that he had met
with, he bought a pistol and was about to commit
suicide, when the Scotch missionary Cerf knocked
at the door of his room, and not only rescued him
from taking away his life, but by God's help enabled
him to devote that life to His service. He was
converted and baptized in 1848. In 1851 he became
connected with the L.J.S., and was sent as a missionary
in 1853 to Jassy, where he remained three years. In
1856 he was appointed to Alsace, and had his station
at Strassburg, whence he itinerated to France and
the Rhine provinces, and met everywhere acceptance
among Jews and Christians. In 1874 he went with the
Rev. A. Bernstein on visits to several rabbis in
Alsace and Lorraine, when they were cordially
received and had profitable conversations. He then
was transferred to Crefeld, but much suffering from
asthma obliged him to retire to Worthing, where he
died in 1876, and upon his tombstone in the churchyard
there can be read the words in Hebrew, "I
know that my Redeemer liveth," so that he still
preaches to Jewish visitors.
Schönberger, Rev. C. A., after embracing Christianity,
studied at Pesth and Basle and Leipzig,
laboured for some time as a Scotch Free Church
missionary at Pesth, where many Jews attended his
lectures. He was ordained in Stuttgart in 1867,
laboured then at Prague till 1872, when he entered
the service of the British Society, and was sent back
to Prague, and from there he was transferred to
Vienna, where he was very efficient and realized the
fulness of blessing upon his ministry. Some of his
converts became preachers of the Gospel among
Jews and Christians. About 1892 he returned to
England, and on account of illness resigned his
office. After the death of his brother-in-law, Dr.
Saphir, he felt that he was called to supply in some
measure his influence on behalf of the Jews, and he
connected himself with the work carried on by Rabbi
Lichtenstein at Pesth, and joining the Rev. David
Baron, they both founded a mission in East London,
under the name of the "Hebrew Christian Testimony
to Israel," where a great work has been going on
ever since in their own mission-house in Whitechapel
Road, whence the Gospel has been carried by
word and literature to Hungary, the Danubian
Principalities, and Russia.
Scialitti, Rabbi Moses, an Italian Jew, was baptized
on Trinity Sunday, 1663 by Dr. Warmestre, Dean of
Worcester, at the Church of St. Margaret, when the
Bishop of Chester, Dr. Samuel Collins, the Countess
Lucy of Huntingdon, and other persons of high standing
were sponsors by proxy. Scialitti subsequently
addressed a letter in Italian and English to the Jews,
stating the grounds for his embracing Christianity,
and exhorting them to go and do likewise.
Schuffamer, Rabbi Elisha, came from Salonica to
Jerusalem, and was through the preaching of Dr.
Ewald converted to Christianity and baptized in
1848. He then returned to Salonica to fetch his
family, but four of his children had died, yet his wife
followed him to Jerusalem. There he was employed
for a time as layreader, and was afterwards transferred
to Cairo, where he had a Bible depôt.
Schulhof, Dr. M., a Jewish convert, was a medical
missionary of the British Society. In 1854 he
published: "Notes on Diseases in Turkey in reference
to European troops and Memoir of the remittant
fever of the Levant."
Schwartz, Rev. Dr. Karl (Solomon), was born at
Meseritz in Posen in 1817. His father, Isaac Schwartz
was a merchant, and gave him a strict rabbinic
education, cherishing the hope that he would one
day become a teacher in Israel. To this end he was
sent to Berlin in 1832 to study at the rabbinic
Seminary there. In the lectures the professors
occasionally compared Judaism with Christianity, to
the disadvantage, of course, of the latter. This excited
in Schwartz a desire to examine Christianity for
himself, so he took the first step by exchanging the
Seminary for the Gymnasium. During the course of
his studies he was instructed in Christianity and
baptized October 18, 1837. He then studied
theology for a year at Halle, under Tholuck, and then
under Neander, Hengstenberg, and Twesten, for four
years at Berlin. At that time he used to give lessons
in foreign languages to the inmates of the Berlin
House for foreign missions, when his landlady said to
him once, "It is all very nice for you to teach these
young men foreign languages in order that they may
be qualified to preach the Gospel to the heathen.
Have you at all thought of your own brethren who
live in your own neighbourhood without the light of
the Gospel?" This was a word in season. Thereupon
he entered into correspondence with the L.J.S., joined
the Church of England, and was ordained deacon by
the Bishop of London on March 20, 1842, and was
sent by the Society to Constantinople. On his way
there he sojourned for awhile at Pesth, where his
lectures on Isaiah liii. bore good fruit, and it
seems that he then got engaged to Maria Dorothea,
a daughter of Israel Saphir. He did not remain
very long in Constantinople, because his connexion
with the Scotch Mission at Pesth caused him
to join the Free Church of Scotland, and he was
sent by that Church to Berlin, where he was stationed
from 1844 to 1849, and he went then to Prague, but
settled in the same year at Amsterdam. There he
found that the Dutch Jews were not so accessible as
the Jews in Hungary, Turkey, and Germany, so he
adopted the method of preaching special sermons in
churches and inviting the Jews through advertisements
to attend them. In 1850 he issued a Dutch
paper, giving expositions of Messianic prophecy and
the like, for circulation among the Jews. This he
edited for several years. In 1856 a mission church
was built for him, and his first sermon then was on
Zech. iv. 6. In that church he baptized quite a
number of Jews. On Sunday, August 1, 1858, Schwartz
ascended the pulpit to preach to a congregation
of 1,200, on St. John xii. 26, and while bowing
down to offer up prayer, a young Jew quietly crept
up the steps and stabbed him with a dagger in the
left shoulder so that he was saturated with blood, and
had to be carried home in a fainting condition.
The attempted assassin was put into prison, where
Schwartz, after his recovery, visited him but did not
succeed in bringing him to a better mind. However,
a near relation of his became a Christian after that
event; and a Jewess, too, was thereby induced to
come to Schwartz for instruction and baptism. After
fifteen years' arduous labours in Holland, Schwartz
accepted a call in 1864 from the congregation of
Trinity Chapel, Newnham Street, London, to succeed
Ridley Herschell. In London he founded a home
for enquirers; and edited a periodical entitled, "The
Scattered Nation." In 1866 he founded "The
Hebrew Christian Alliance," and delivered lectures,
besides preaching twice every Sunday. In this good
work he continued till August 24, 1870, when he died
on his knees at the age of fifty-three, and was buried
near his friend, Ridley Herschell.
Schwarzenberg, Rabbi Abraham, lived in the little
town of Kasimir in Poland, and was employed by a
Jewish merchant who at last became a bankrupt, yet
on account of his Talmudic learning was chosen as
rabbi at Lublin. Schwarzenberg, who was an upright,
conscientious man, knowing that his master had
deceived many poor people, took offence thereat, and
reproached the Jews for not acting according to the
law in this matter. After this some one gave him a
New Testament which missionaries had left in the
town. After reading it he persuaded others also to
read it, and exposed himself to persecution. He then
went in search of the missionaries, and coming to a
Roman Catholic priest he expressed a wish to be
instructed and baptized, but the priest told him that
he must first of all lay aside the New Testament.
Schwarzenberg concluded that he was not a missionary,
and went to Lublin, where he had heard there
was an Evangelical minister. This worthy man
looked upon him with suspicion and received him
coldly, so he went to a river and dipped himself three
times in the name of the Holy Trinity. At last he
heard that the missionaries resided in Warsaw, so he
tramped at once to Warsaw, where Dr. McCaul
instructed and baptized him in 1828, in his 65th year.
In spite of his age Schwarzenberg began to learn
German in order that he might intelligently take part
in the services of the Church of England. His mode of
life was quite that of a Polish Jew, with long fore-locks
and dressed in a long kaftan with girdle. He used
to say that a converted Jew must have a changed
heart, but not a change of dress. He maintained
himself by selling fruit in the street, and also
worked voluntarily as a missionary. The police had
an order to protect him against the Jews, though when
he was in a lonely street he was often stoned by them.
In this manner he ran the Christian race until 1842,
when he departed at the age of eighty to be
with Christ.
Segall, Rev. Joseph F., a native of Piatra (Moldavia),
came with a number of young friends into possession
of missionary literature which a colporteur from
Bucharest had left in the town in 1874. This they
studied secretly in rotation. After being solemnly
impressed by the truth, they wrote a letter to the
Rev. F. G. Kleinhenn, asking for admission to some
institution in which they might learn more of the
Gospel. Mr. Kleinhenn replied that he had no such
home, and could not encourage anyone to come
to him except on his own means and on his own
responsibility. However, one day Segall and his
friend Suffrin appeared at Mr. Kleinhenn's house, and
he had to take them in. They were then instructed by
Mr. Kleinhenn and Mr. Bernstein for some considerable
time, and then baptized. The history of the two
runs to some extent together. The relations of each
tried their utmost to win them back to Judaism, but
they had grace given to them not to yield. In the
same year Mr. Bernstein, then stationed at Strasburg,
was the medium of their being admitted by Dr.
Heman, at Basel, into his home for proselytes, to be
trained for future usefulness. After finishing their
course of study they applied to the L.J.S., passed
through its missionary college, and were appointed
missionaries. Segall was stationed at Birmingham,
and ordained by the Bishop of Worcester in 1877-8
to the curacy of St. Martin. Subsequently he was
appointed to the charge of the mission at Damascus,
where he also acted as chaplain to the English colony
there.
Simon, Erasmus, was one of the earliest converts of
the L.J.S. This excellent man seems to have been a
native of Holland. In London he made the
acquaintance of J. Frey, and heard the Gospel from
him and was baptized. In 1820 he was appointed to
work under the Rev. A. S. Thelwall at Amsterdam.
In 1829 he formed a society called the "Friends of the
Hebrew Nation," under the patronage of the Bishop of
London. This society rented three houses in Camden
Town for Jewish enquirers, and started the "Operative
Jewish Converts' Institution." Amongst its inmates
were the future founder of the British Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, Ridley
Herschell, and Wertheimer, the future well-known
bookseller. The former was one of twelve candidates for
baptism presented by Simon to Bishop Blomfield, who
baptized them in St. James', Piccadilly.
Simson, Martin Eduard, son of a banker,
German jurist and statesman, born Nov. 10, 1810, at
Königsberg, and died at Berlin, May 22, 1899. He
embraced Christianity as a young man, studied law,
and in 1833 he became professor of Roman law, and
three years later a judge. In 1848 he received the
title of "Rath" in the higher court. In 1848 he was sent
as a deputy from Königsberg to the National Congress
at Frankfurt, and was soon raised to be its president,
and had the honour to offer the crown of the German
Empire to King Frederick William IV. of Prussia.
Subsequently he held high offices of state, and in 1879
he was appointed first president of the German
Supreme Court at Leipzig; in 1888 he received the
decoration of the Black Eagle of Prussia and was
ennobled. In 1892 he retired to private life. He was
the author of "Geschichte des Königsberger Ober
Tribunals." Of his three baptized brothers, one
became professor of Oriental languages at Königsberg,
and the other two lawyers at Berlin.
Skolkowski, J., was a native of Calwary in Russian
Poland, baptized at Königsberg, and then studied at
the L.J.S. Missionary Training College in London.
In 1849 he laboured as a missionary in London, Cairo,
Lublin, Gnesen, and Posen, and then, in 1869, at
Königsberg. "His annual reports," says the Rev. W. T.
Gidney, "supplied most interesting details of mission
service, together with glimpses of the social condition,
pursuits, and religious opinions of Jews, among whom
he devotedly carried on the work of preaching Christ
and Him crucified, until his retirement in the
beginning of 1888, after a long service of very nearly
forty years."
Sobernheim, Dr. Joseph Friedrich, an earnest
convert in Berlin in the middle of the nineteenth
century. The history of his conversion is as follows.
A student had pawned a New Testament with a Jew
for a paltry sum of money, and when he came to
redeem it, the pawnbroker, having in the meantime
read it and become a Christian, gave the student a
hundred Louis d'or as a token of gratitude because he
had through this book come to a saving knowledge of
Christ. This Jewish convert was instrumental in the
conversion of nine other Jews, among whom was Dr.
Sobernheim and his father. He was esteemed as
an author of medical works. He wrote: "Handbuch der
Praktischen Arzenimittelehre" (Berlin, 1844), "Beiträge
zur Phänomenologie des Lebens," ib., 1841. He died
in 1846. ("Jewish Intelligence," December, 1864.)
Solomon, Rev. Benjamin Nehemiah, was born at
Lemberg in 1791, and in due time became a rabbi.
In 1814 he came to London, and through the
instrumentality of J. Frey became a Christian,
and was ordained in 1817. He then accompanied
Lewis Way on his missionary journey through
Holland, Germany and Russia, both preaching the
Gospel to the Jews everywhere. Lewis Way having
obtained for him permission from the Emperor
Alexander to work in Poland, he first of all translated
the New Testament into Yiddish, for the use
of Polish Jews. In 1821 he accompanied McCaul
to Warsaw, but from Amsterdam he wrote to
Thelwall that the condition of his wife and children
in Galicia obliged him to return home. His own
father declared to the missionary Smith, in 1827,
that he was living as a Christian.
Stahl, Friedrich Julius, son of a banker, jurist and
publicist, was born at Munich, January 16, 1802, and died
at Bruckenau, Aug. 10, 1861. He became a Christian in
his eighteenth year, and was baptized at Erlangen in
1819. Already at the age of fourteen he discussed
religious topics with his fellow scholars. The writings
of Thiersch had a great influence upon him. After
he had become a Christian, he acted as a missionary
to his own family and brought his parents
and brothers and sisters to the Saviour. He studied
law at the Universities of Wurzburg, Erlangen, and
Heidelberg. In 1834 he represented the University of
Erlangen in the Bavarian Parliament. In 1840 he
became professor of law at the University of Berlin,
where his lectures drew an audience of all classes.
His idea of Christianity was that it should pervade
the whole life and also the State. According to Lord
Acton, Stahl had a more predominant influence and
shewed more political ability than Lord Beaconsfield
(Acton, Letters to Mary Gladstone, p. 103, London,
1904). His writings are as follows, "Die Philosophie
des Rechts nach Geschichtlicher Ansicht," 2 vols.
(Heidelberg, 1830-37); "Ueber die Kirchenzucht"
(1845-58); "Das Monarchische Princip" (Heidelberg,
1845); "Der Christliche Staat" (ib., 1847-8); "Die
Revolution und die Constitutionelle Monarchie"
(1848-9); "Was ist Revolution?" (ib., 1852), of which
three editions were issued; "Der Protestantismus als
Politisches Princip" (ib., 1853-4); "Die Katholische
Widerlegungen" (ib., 1854); "Wider Bunsen" (1856);
"Die Lutherische Kirche und die Union" (1859-60).
After his death were published, "Siebenzehn Parlamentarishen
Reden" (1862), and "Die Gegenwärtigen
Partien in Staat und Kirche" (1868).
Steinhardt, son of the landlord for many years of
the L.J.S. schools at Bucharest naturally came in
contact with the mission there, but no one of
the family shewed any inclination towards Christianity,
yet the seed sown in the son's heart bore
fruit in time. He went to Constantinople and was
baptized there. Then he became a city missionary
in New York, studied theology, and became, in
1871, pastor of a Swiss congregation in Fountain
City, Wisconsin, and in 1882 at Louisville, Ky.
Stern, Dr. Henry A., was born of Jewish parents on
April 11, 1820, at Unterreichenbach, in the Duchy of
Hesse Cassel. Subsequently the family removed to
Frankfort-on-the-Main, where they resided in the
quaint old "Judengasse," now a thing of the past.
Though educated in this town with a view to the
medical profession, Stern, when about seventeen years
of age, decided to follow commerce, and to that end
repaired to Hamburg. It was there, in the providence
of God, that his attention was first drawn to Christianity,
by noticing some Christian literature in a glass
case near the house of the London Jews' Society's
missionary, Mr. J. C. Moritz. The impression
subsequently obtained by its perusal was increased
when, on arrival in London, in 1839, Stern was
induced by a fellow-lodger to attend a Sunday
afternoon Hebrew service in Palestine Place,
conducted by Dr. Alexander McCaul. Thoroughly
awakened, Stern sought the missionary the next day,
and, indeed, for many days, until he became a
recognized enquirer, and was eventually admitted
into the Operative Jewish Converts' Institution.
There he was further carefully prepared in Christianity,
and baptized on March 15, 1840. For two years
longer he remained in the Institution, working at his
trade, but it was very evident that Stern, by his
learning and gifts, was eminently fitted to be a
missionary, and consequently he was taken into
the Society's College for a further term of two
years.
In 1844 Stern received his first missionary post,
and was sent to Bagdad. He left London under
the direction of the Rev. Murray Vickers, accompanied
by three other young missionaries. They
broke their journey at Jerusalem, where Stern
was ordained deacon by Bishop Alexander, on July
14 of the same year. Arriving at Bagdad, Stern
threw himself into his work with great zeal and
ardour.
The Jewish population of Bagdad then consisted of
about 16,000 souls. The whole trade of the town was
in their hands, and they were supposed to be the
most wealthy class of the community. They
manifested the greatest anxiety to obtain the books
published by the Society. Day after day the house
of the missionaries was filled to overflowing with Jews
of all ages, ranks and stations, and the streets near
were crowded all day by numbers of Jews, Stern
being constantly stopped as he walked along them.
The bazaars, khans, and the Beth Hamedrash, were
visited, and supplied frequent opportunities for
proclaiming the Gospel.
The eagerness manifested by the Jews of Bagdad
to enter into discussion on the subject of Christianity,
and more especially the application of two
enquirers for regular instruction, stirred up active
opposition on the part of the rabbis, and an
excommunication was issued against all who should
have intercourse with the missionaries. This had the
desired effect. For six or seven months no Jew was
seen in the mission house. Then, gradually, some
ventured to come by stealth; and, soon, from twelve
to twenty again visited the missionaries on
Saturdays, several of whom were of the most
respectable Jewish families in Bagdad. The Jewish
authorities, however, did not relax their vigilance, but
threatened to repeat the anathema.
In the winter of 1844 Stern made a journey to
certain places on the banks of the Euphrates, going
to Hillah, where he visited the synagogue and Jewish
schools; the tomb of Ezekiel, greatly venerated by
the Jews; Meshed-Ali, a Moslem town with a few
Jews; Cufa; the tower of Belus (Babel) or Birs
Nimroud; and the ruins of Babylon. In 1845 Stern
and a fellow-labourer, the Rev. P. H. Sternchuss,
improved the time during which missionary
operations in Bagdad were suspended, in consequence
of the cherem mentioned above, in making a
missionary journey into the interior of Persia.
They held much interesting intercourse with the Jews
of Kermanshah and Hamadan. On November 21
of the same year, the two missionaries embarked on
the Tigris for the purpose of undertaking a second
journey in Persia. They visited Bussorah, Bushire,
Shiraz, and several other places where Jews resided.
Both in synagogues and Jewish schools, and also at
their lodgings, they proclaimed the unsearchable
riches of Christ to considerable numbers of their
Jewish brethren.
The deadly scourge of cholera prevailed in Bagdad
to an alarming extent in 1846, and in a very few
weeks several thousands were suddenly taken off by
it, and missionary work was consequently suspended.
The Jews thought the visitation was owing to
the fact that many of their brethren had imbibed
the doctrines of Christianity, and their opposition
became most violent. A second cherem was pronounced
in the synagogues against the missionaries
and all holding intercourse with them.
Notwithstanding the violence of the rabbis and
the ignorance which prevailed, especially amongst
Jewesses, the missionaries met with many to whom
they were able to declare the love of the Redeemer,
and several received regular instruction. Of the
Bagdad Jews in general they said:—"A spirit of
enquiry pervades all classes of Jews in Bagdad
The rabbis are fully sensible of it, and endeavour to
do everything in their power to check this extraordinary
movement."
In 1847 a temporary retreat to Persia was thought
advisable, during which Stern preached the Gospel to
many hundreds of Jews, both in Chaldæa and Persia,
and extensively circulated the Scriptures in the
Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and
Armenian languages. This was a great achievement
in a region hitherto noted for intolerance, bigotry,
poverty, fanaticism, and superstition.
On the arrival from home of fresh supplies of
books, the lodgings of the missionaries were crowded
for days together, from morning till evening, with
eager applicants for the sacred treasure. The
missionaries were now well known to many of the
Jews in the surrounding countries, from the journeys
which they undertook from time to time. They sent
the Word of God to the wilds of Kurdistan, the
deserts of Khorasan and Turkistan. They were
privileged to admit two Israelites, one of Bagdad and
the other from Bushire, into the Church of Christ by
baptism. Others received instruction from them for
a longer or a shorter period.
On their return to Bagdad, a room belonging to
the mission was fitted up for Divine Service, and
usually from twelve to fifteen Jews attended the daily
morning service, at dawn of day; the instruction of
enquirers taking place immediately afterwards. An
English service was held on Sunday morning, and a
Hebrew service in the afternoon during winter. An
operative converts' institution was opened.
In August, 1850, a Jewish doctor was baptized,
which incident produced another severe anathema
from the rabbis against all who should have any
intercourse with the missionaries. "In order to make
the interdict more impressive," wrote Stern, "the horn
was blown, and all the books of the law unrolled."
This was repeated several days. Jews, in large
numbers, however, began to call at the depôt which
Stern opened; and he affirmed that there were many
who had learned the Truth from reading the New
Testament. In 1851 and 1853 two other baptisms
were recorded. After eight or nine years spent in
Mesopotamia, where Mrs. Stern's health had greatly
suffered from an attack of cholera, Stern was
transferred to Constantinople in 1853.
There he found a larger and even more important
sphere of work—totally different, as he had now to
deal with Spanish instead of Eastern Jews. They
were down-trodden and oppressed, and their pitiable
state was not improved by the extensive conflagrations,
which periodically devastated their quarter. Numbers,
however, became enquirers, notwithstanding
severe persecution, and some were baptized. The
mission schools were well attended, and the medical
mission, conducted by Dr. Leitner, did excellent
service. Stern visited Adrianople, Salonica, and
other towns with large Jewish populations.
The year 1856 was signalized by a visit to the
Karaites and other Jews in the Crimea. At Baktchi-Serai,
Stern was surrounded by Jews, "all anxious to
buy Gospels," and was the guest of the chief rabbi,
who shewed him the cemetery of the Karaites—strangely
called "The Valley of Jehoshaphat"—with
its 40,000 sculptured tombs, and in which myriads
more had been interred, to whose memory poverty or
indifference had raised no monument. At Simpheropol,
Stern preached in the synagogue and sold a
number of New Testaments and Pentateuchs. On
one occasion he had the privilege of addressing
British troops in their quarters in the Crimea.
Stern made a second journey in the same year—to
Arabia.
The space at our command is totally inadequate
to describe the incidents of that romantic and perilous
journey, in the wake of Joseph Wolff who, just forty
years before, had engaged in the same pioneer work.
Stern had to take precautions for his safety, adopting
native dress and passing as the "Dervish Abdallah."
At Safon, a beautiful mountain town, the report that
a man who spoke Hebrew, and yet was no Jew,
dressed like a Mohammedan and yet ignored the
Koran, caused much sensation amongst the Jews,
who flocked to see him, and to whom he preached in
a synagogue. This was repeated at other places.
At Sanaa he was occupied for twelve days, with very
little rest at night, preaching to the multitudes who
congregated wherever he went. The last day of his
visit there he characterized as "the happiest of my
life, the happiest of my missionary career."
After a visit to England in 1857, Stern returned to
Constantinople, taking up again the threads of his
settled missionary work there.
In 1859 Stern embarked on the first of his most
memorable journeys to Abyssinia. Mr. J. M. Flad
had been working in that country as one of the
"Pilgrim Missionaries" from St. Chrischona. More
Christian labourers, however, were needed; and so
Stern was despatched from Constantinople to found
an English mission, if possible, amongst the Falashas—some
thousands of Jews dwelling in the highlands
of the interior. Flad now joined Stern, and the two
worked hand-in-hand together. The results of this
preliminary visit were thus summed up by Stern, who,
having accomplished his purpose, repaired to England
in 1861:—"I visited, in company with Mr. Flad, the
Bishop of Jerusalem's Scripture Reader, upwards of
thirty Falasha settlements, and saw the priests, and
all those that could read, from more than fifty-five
other places. The desire to obtain the Word of God
exceeds all description; young and old, the man
standing on the verge of the grave, and the youth
just rushing into life's happiest whirl, heedless and
indifferent to the pain and difficulties of the road,
followed us for days and days, till we yielded to their
unwearied entreaties, and from our scanty stock
supplied their communities with copies of the sacred
volume."
Speaking in Exeter Hall in May of the next year,
Stern said, "During my stay in that country, I was
amazed at the excitement created by our preaching
through the various provinces we visited. Frequently,
hundreds of Christians and Jews would meet together
near our tent with the Word of God in their hands,
converse and investigate those truths which we had
been preaching."
Flad and a fellow-labourer named Bronkhörst, who
had joined him, continued to carry on the work with
much success, and on July 21, 1861, the first fruits of
the mission were gathered in, twenty-two Falashas
receiving Holy Baptism. On August 4, nineteen
more were baptized. This encouraging success led
to Stern going out again to Abyssinia in September,
1862, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rosenthal.
We cannot follow the details of the work for
the next two years, but must sum them up in Stern's
own words:—"We have in the course of two years,
without being allowed to form a separate community,
rescued a considerable number of Falashas from their
unbelief, and nominally, but not virtually, united
them as a living, active and spiritual element, to the
dead Church of the Amharas. We have circulated
about one thousand whole copies and portions of
Scriptures; we have given an impulse to the study
of the written vernacular; and we have stirred up a
spirit of enquiry among Jews and Amharas, which
must either terminate in a spontaneous reform, or
lead (which is far more probable) to our expulsion
and a relentless persecution." The latter surmise
proved to be only too true.
The following circumstances eventually led to the
imprisonment of the missionaries. King Theodore had
despatched to the Queen of England, by Consul
Cameron, a letter, to which, from some strange
reason, no reply was vouchsafed. A similar letter to
Napoleon III. was indeed answered, but the verbal
message accompanying it gave dire offence.
Theodore resolved to be revenged on all Europeans,
and to "humble the pride of Europe," as he said,
meaning England and France.
Some expressions in Stern's book, "Wanderings
among the Falashas in Abyssinia," as to Theodore's
humble origin, also gave offence to the dusky
monarch. When Stern paid him a visit, in order to
ask permission to return home, the opportunity thus
offered for revenge was seized. Stern had with him
two servants. The hour of the visit was unfortunately
ill chosen, and his servants' knowledge of Arabic so
limited, as to render their mode of interpreting so
offensive to the King, that he ordered them to be
beaten,—an order so effectually obeyed, that they
died in the night. Stern, unable to endure the scene,
turned round, and in his nervousness bit his finger,—unaware,
or forgetful, that such a gesture was in
Abyssinia indicative of revenge. At first, the King
seemed inclined to overlook the matter, but
subsequently, urged on by those around him, Stern
was struck down insensible, and, on recovery, bound
hand to foot and consigned to prison.
For four and a-half years Stern remained a prisoner.
It is impossible to describe his terrible sufferings and
perilous position during that long protracted "period
of heart-rending and heart-breaking martyrdom."
Rosenthal was the next victim; subsequently
Consul Cameron, Flad and his wife, Mrs. Rosenthal,
Consul Rassam, Lieutenant Prideaux, Blanc, Kerans,
and others, were in turn imprisoned. Flad was
shortly afterwards released, in order to be sent to
England on an embassy to Queen Victoria, his wife
and children being held as hostages for his return.
The prisoners remained in captivity—with a slight
interval of freedom in the spring of 1866—first in one
place, then in another, and subsequently at Magdala—until
Easter, 1868. An English expeditionary
force, under Sir Robert Napier, had arrived to effect
their deliverance. In answer to the demand of the
English General, and perhaps in order to propitiate
him, Theodore ordered the release of his prisoners.
This tardy act of justice did not save him. A battle
was fought on Good Friday between the English
army and the hosts of Theodore, who was decisively
beaten. On Easter Monday the stronghold of Magdala
was stormed and captured, and Theodore fell by his
own hand. Most graphic accounts of these stirring
days were sent home by Stern and Flad, the latter of
whom prefaced his remarks with the appropriate
words, "The Lord has turned our captivity: we are
like unto them that dream. Our mouth is filled with
laughter, and our tongue with praise. We say, The
Lord has done great things for us! The Lord has
done great things, whereof we are glad."
The release of the missionaries by the military
expedition sent out to vindicate the honour of the
British nation, and to recover the person of its official
representatives, was a wonderful answer to believing
and persevering prayer. The missionaries returned
to England in June, 1868; and, on July 3, a special
meeting for prayer and thanksgiving was held at the
Freemasons' Hall, the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., in
the chair, when all the released missionaries, with
their wives, were present, and in a few words told of
their wonderful deliverance, and the Almighty arm
which had wrought it.
It may here be mentioned that though since 1869,
no European missionary has been allowed in
Abyssinia, the London Society's mission has never
once been suspended, notwithstanding overwhelming
odds and almost insuperable obstacles! Other
missions have been given up for a time when dangers
threatened—this has held on its way through the
fostering care of Mr. J. M. Flad, who has supervised
it from a distance, and the indomitable courage of the
native missionaries. Like the early Christians, they
have overcome by "the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony: and they loved not
their lives unto the death" (Rev. xii. 11). Famine, war,
bloodshed, imprisonment, ecclesiastical jealousy, civil
strife, the Dervish invasion, the coming of the
Italians, have been potent enemies—powerful enough
to harass and to impede, but not to stop the work.
Indeed, it has flourished beyond expectation, and,
in spite of ignorance and want of freedom, the Gospel
has spread amongst the Falashas, 2,000 of whom
have been baptized.
We now come to the last period of Stern's life
(1870-1885) which, though free from stirring
adventures and dangerous situations, was none the
less active and full.
For some time after his return Stern was
incessantly and altogether engaged in narrating his
experiences to crowded audiences in every part of
the country, who hung, with breathless interest, upon
the terrible yet fascinating story of the Abyssinian
mission. In subsequent years Stern could very
rarely be persuaded to recount the horrors of the
past. On one occasion, and that only, in response to
the persuasive entreaty of friends in a south-coast
town, did he ever tell the wonderful story of his
sufferings and achievements in that far-off land.
Either the innate humility and modesty of the man,
or painful memories, made it most distasteful to
unlock the door of the past.
In 1870 Dr. Ewald resigned his work as senior
missionary in London. It was no easy matter to find
a man qualified to succeed him. Only one seemed
possible, and that was Stern, whose health, undermined
by his unparalleled sufferings in Abyssinia,
no longer permitted him to serve the Society in the
East. He was appointed Ewald's successor from the
1st of January, 1871, and brought to his new sphere
a ripe and unrivalled experience in Jewish missionary
work, gained, as we have seen, in Persia, Turkey,
Arabia, and Abyssinia; and an acquaintance with a
dozen or more languages, an invaluable possession
for a missionary in the metropolis, who has by
personal intercourse and correspondence to deal with
Jews of different nationalities. Though Stern missed
in England the refined courtesy of the German, and
the religious gravity of the Oriental Jew, and
consequently those winning qualities which helped
on friendly intercourse and mutual interchange of
convictions between missionary and Jew, he yet
found that most of the Jews in England were able to
discuss religious questions calmly and dispassionately.
The three chief means which Stern relied upon to win
his way amongst the Jews were circulation of tracts,
domiciliary visitation, and special sermons in
Spitalfields and Whitechapel. The last were highly
successful. Jews attended in large numbers, attracted
by the fame of the preacher, and the glowing and
burning eloquence which flowed from his lips as he
pointed them to the Messiah. An attendance of
from 400 to 500 Jews was of frequent occurrence.
A German prayer meeting was substituted for the service
hitherto held on Friday evenings, in order to draw
together some of the 2,000 proselytes, and numerous
enquirers then in London. This paved the way for
the establishment, later on, of the "Hebrew Christian
Prayer Union."
Thousands of Jews were addressed in public and
in private, in streets, houses, shops, churches and
mission halls.
A mission hall, situated in Whitechapel, was made
a useful centre, where meetings on Saturdays and
other days were generally well attended. There was
a daily Bible Class held for Jews. Conversions and
baptisms were numerous; but, as Stern said in 1876,
when speaking of results, and his words are true for
all time, and in every place as well as London:—"Conversions,
however few or many they may be,
are not the gauge by which the progress of mission
work amongst the Jews can be ascertained. A man
may be thoroughly convinced of the truth of the
Gospel, and yet hesitate to take the final and decisive
step. He may shrink from the persecution, the trials,
the troubles, and the sacrifices a public profession of
his faith would entail. Of course no one, who is truly
concerned for his soul's eternal welfare, should be
ashamed to avow his convictions. Nevertheless, a
strong faith and ardent love are indispensably
necessary to enable a catechumen to break through
the ties of cherished affection and friendship for the
Gospel's sake. That all are not destitute of these
heavenly gifts, ever-recurring instances testify. The
greater majority, however, prefer to conceal their
religious sentiments. They go to church, join in the
services, and even contribute to missionary societies,
and yet nominally profess to be Jews."
Stern not only worked in London, but also held
special services for Jews in many other towns. He
combined with his mission work the supervision of the
"Wanderers' Home," a most useful institution for the
reception of converts and enquirers.
In 1874, on the thirtieth anniversary of his
ordination, his Hebrew Christian and other friends
presented him with a testimonial—a silver tea and
coffee service—as a slight token of their esteem;
and in 1881 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred
upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1884
he was elected a member of the Committee of the
L.J.S., where his vast and varied experience was of
the utmost use; and he was also elected an Associate
of the Victoria Institute.
Stern's work in London was carried on to the time
of his death, which occurred, after much suffering, on
May 13, 1885. The funeral service was held in the
Episcopal Jews' Chapel, Palestine Place, on May 18,
in the presence of a large and sorrowing congregation,
and his mortal remains laid to rest in Ilford Cemetery.
He was twice married: first, in 1850, to Miss
Charlotte Elizabeth Purday, who died in 1874; and
secondly, in 1883, to Miss Rebecca Goff, daughter of
S. D. Goff, Esq., of Horetown, Co. Wexford.
As a preacher Stern was eloquence itself; as a
writer he had a most charming and picturesque
diction. His published journals and books, like those
of Dr. Wolff, are full of the most romantic incidents
of missionary experience. His published works were:
"Dawning of Light in the East" (1854), being an
account of his work in Persia, Kurdistan and Mesopotamia;
"Wanderings amongst the Falashas in
Abyssinia" (1862); and "The Captive Missionary"
(1868), both narratives of his Abyssinian experiences.
That he was of the spirit of which martyrs are
made, the following extracts from his letters, written
during the long and dreary days of his captivity in
Abyssinia, clearly demonstrate:—
"Thank God, in the midst of my troubles, cares
and anxieties, I enjoy the profoundest calm and
resignation. It is true there are days when the heart
pulsates with gratitude and joy, and there are days
when it throbs beneath the mortifying agonies of
despondency. Sometimes I feel as if I could not
endure another week the fetters which encircle my
limbs, and confine me in painful inactivity to this
desolate rock. Such rebellious sentiments I generally
try to suppress, and if this is impossible, I seek
comfort in the thought, that all is ordered in wisdom
and infinite love. Our heavenly Father hath, no
doubt, an object in this protracted captivity, and
when once the veil of mystery is lifted up, every
incident and circumstance which hath wrung a prayer
or extorted a groan from the grieved soul, will prove
to have been in harmony with the designs of a
gracious Providence, and fraught with inestimable
blessings."
And again, "Our nerves were horrible shattered,
and our minds, too, would have been unhinged, had
not religion, with her solacing influence, soothed the
asperities and hardships of our existence. The Bible,
prayers, and a morning and evening exposition of
an appropriate passage were the exercises in which
we regularly engaged. No bitter gibes, no harsh
expressions, no unbecoming word characterised our
intercourse; religion formed a wonderful bond of
harmony, and when I looked on the devout countenances
that there hung over the inspired page, as I
commented on the selected text, I cherished the
pleasing hope that the clouds, so big with wrath,
had been charged with showers of everlasting mercy.
At such a period—I say it solemnly—the punctured
head, the riven side, the pierced feet, and the heavy
cross of redeeming love, is a sight that nerves and
supports the drooping and desponding spirit. In my
distress and sorrow, I threw myself on the bosom of
a sympathizing Saviour, and if I was not happy, I
was at least resigned."
No one can estimate the abundance of spiritual
harvest from the long life of toil and labour which
Stern spent to the honour and glory of his Master.
He sowed in tears, he led captivity captive, he turned
many to righteousness, and of him it may confidently
be said, that he will shine as a star for ever and
ever.[23]
Stern, Herman, gives the following sketch of
his history:—"My father was a rabbi and teacher
of the Talmud at Prague, at Strakenitz, and somewhat
later at Bamberg. I had the happiness to be
instructed by him in the Bible and in the Talmud, from
my tenth to my twenty-first year, and during this
period of eleven years, I also attended some Christian
schools. On the decease of my father, who died
in his seventy-sixth year, duty no longer demanded
my residence at Bamberg, and having applied to
the then 'Court Commission' (Hofcommission) at
Würzburg, for the situation of Jewish teacher at
Höchburg, which was at that time vacant, I obtained
it. The Jewish inhabitants of Höchburg were pious,
and previous to my coming there the children of the
rich had been instructed by private tutors. But as
the former had been unwilling that the children of
the less fortunate Jewish parents should share this
instruction, these felt themselves obliged to petition
the authorities for the appointment of a public
teacher, which was answered, quite unexpectedly to
the rich, by my installation. It was, therefore, to be
expected that the wealthier Jews would not be pleased
with the new school; and when at last the authorities
would no longer suffer the private tutors to remain at
Höchburg, obliging the rich Jews to send their children
to the public school, the latter became to them an
object of hatred. This hatred to the school was now
transferred to me, and I was persecuted in every
possible way. The wealthier Jews complained of me,
because I permitted the boys to sit bare-headed;
because I kept no wash-basin in the school-room, and
what gave me most trouble, though it was not raised
into a point of accusation, because I had often inculcated
the duty of love to Christians, whom the
'Shulchan Aruch,' denominated idolaters.
"I endeavoured to conform in my religious instruction
to the letter and spirit of the Holy Scriptures,
and could not avoid alluding to the defectiveness
and emptiness of the synagogue ceremonial, as
taught in the Talmud and the Jewish code 'Shulchan
Aruch.'
"This course was complained of before the chief
rabbi of the district; and for my own security, I
requested the Government that the rabbi be instructed
to superintend the religious instruction of my school,
and to subject it to one or two examinations annually.
Mr. Bing, the chief rabbi, however, begged to be
excused from doing so, stating that my religious
instruction did not please him. The Government
then demanded of the rabbi either to propose one of
the existing religious compendiums as a text-book for
schools, or else to write one himself.
"The rabbi offered to do the latter. In the third
year of my public services, the Government sent me
to the town of Heidingsfeld, and before leaving
Höchburg, I received a testimonial from the royal
school-inspector of the district, expressing the
satisfaction my labours had given to the Government.
"I had been nearly two years in the school at
Höchburg, when the Government sent me, and all
other Jewish teachers of the kingdom, the new
text-book of the Mosaic religion which the rabbinical
candidate, Dr. Alexander Behr, had written,
under the surveillance and direction of the chief
rabbi, Mr. Abraham Bing, and which the rabbi at
Fürth, and many other influential Jewish ecclesiastics,
had adopted; Government signifying at the same
time that it was the desire of His Majesty the King
to have this book introduced in all Jewish schools.
I received joyfully this book, which promised to
meet the urgent necessities of the schools. But I
was doomed to severe disappointment; the 160
octavo pages which this volume contains, were almost
entirely filled with ceremonial laws, treating of phylacteries,
inscriptions, fringes, circumcisions, meats,
the prohibition of shaving, the creed, &c. Not a
word, and much less an exposition of morality, of
conscience, of virtue, of holiness, of the condition and
destiny of man.
"In that portion of the book which treats of God,
there was an entire omission of His power, His wisdom,
His goodness, His mercy and holiness, and of all the
lessons derived from these attributes and perfections.
Not even the Decalogue found a place in this work.
"The Messiah (as well as many other similar
predictions) it explained to signify a period of time
when all men should know God and serve Him.
"I directed the attention of the Government to this
dead skeleton, shewing that I could not receive this
book as my guide in religious instruction. I prayed
for permission to follow my own course of instruction,
and pledged myself to have my lessons printed and
submitted to the chief rabbi.
"My petition was granted; and this was the beginning
of trouble. My book on the 'Confirmation of
Israelites' followed in 1829. It was the more gladly
received by the public, since I confirmed all my positions
by quotations from the Talmud, which I translated
literally. The second volume, which I published
in 1835, under the title of the 'Tree of Life,' was as
kindly received. Both these books continue as standards
in many schools of various countries, and prove
that even the Talmudists of the third, fourth, and
fifth centuries drank from the evangelical source
of life. In like manner also, 'The Confession of Faith
of the Israelites,' as delineated in my works, the
'Confirmation,' pages 140-46, and the 'Tree of
Life,' pages 226-243, remain in full credit among the
Jews to this day, nor have the rabbis ventured to
say ought against it, although it refers to the New
Testament both in the text itself and in the notes.
"Five-and-twenty years have I been openly
inculcating these principles in my schools and in the
synagogues, and never have either the Jewish
deputies delegated by the Government to attend my
public examinations, nor the great number of Jews who
assisted on such occasions, uttered an objection; this
is a proof that my religious principles were not a
baseless fabric, or, as is too often the case in the
statements of our rabbis, the result of mere whim or
conjecture.
"The kindly, but often misconstrued feelings of His
Majesty, Ludovic I., towards the Jews of his
realm, which had been manifested by his establishment
of national schools for them, by the appointment
of regularly educated rabbis, the free admission
of the Jews to all the existing Christian scholastic
institutions, and the manifold favours enjoyed by
Jewish mechanics, &c., were again shewn in the year
1836, by his convoking of Jewish committees.
"These consisted of rabbis, Jewish teachers, and
delegates of communities. They met in all the
provincial capitals of the kingdom in the public
edifices, where they held regular sessions, under the
presidency of a royal commissary, to solve such
questions in theological, scholastic, and social matters,
as had arisen during the then contemplated Jewish
emancipation; and to give the Government their advice.
"One of the questions before the Committee at
Würzburg was—Whether the Jewish doctrines acknowledge
or reject the belief in the Trinity, as
contained in the Old Testament. The rabbis
consulted on this weighty point in private sessions,
which I attended, having been chosen by a majority
of votes as one of the referees; and they thereupon
declared in the public session briefly that the
doctrine of the Trinity is not contained in the Old
Testament, on which account also the Jews did
not acknowledge this doctrine.
"The president then demanded that every one
agreeing with the declaration of the rabbis should
rise. All the rabbis, all the teachers, and all the
delegates (116 individuals) arose. I only remained
sitting, and then handed to the president a written
notice, stating that I should beg the rabbis, in a
circular which should be printed, to give me an
explanation of various difficulties that I entertained
on this point, before I could accede to the declaration
made by them.
"My circular, entitled 'Israelitism in its Excellency
and its Burden' ('Israelitenthum in seiner Würde und
Bürde) was printed during these sessions (which
lasted six weeks), and produced a universal sensation.
The rabbis took it very ill that I had ventured on this
step, notwithstanding I had been shewn, as in a
camera obscura, in glaring colours, my prospective
misery; but they did not answer my circular. Only
Dr. Romann, the chief rabbi at Cassel, and Mr.
J. Heidegger, a teacher of the Talmud at Fürth,
wrote each one a pamphlet against me. Both of
them, however, scarcely touched upon the point, and
were contented with abuse, cursing, and persecution.
"My school at Heidingsfeld was advised to institute
a complaint against me, as having, through my circular,
shaken the basis of my religion, and to found
thereon a request for my removal. The Government,
however, declined entertaining the complaint; since,
by issuing my circular, I had adopted the very course
which the rabbis themselves had pointed out when
asked how a Jew should proceed in case that religious
doubts should arise; since there was no supreme
religious tribunal in existence to whom the case
might be referred; the rabbis having declared that
in such an event a circular letter stating the question
should be addressed by the enquirer to all Jewish
theologians.
"These reasons were too weighty to encourage an
appeal to the royal 'Ministerium,' although my
opponents anticipated a favourable decision from this
event for themselves, notwithstanding their unholy
aim.
"They, however, preferred to accuse me anew as
having transgressed my religion, namely, by having
taught in my schools that in case of necessity the
Jews were permitted to break the laws relating to
the Sabbath in order to relieve a fellow-man.
"I was cited and heard, and having confessed the
truth of the charge, the royal 'Ministerium' resolved
on my penal removal to the school at Main-Stockheim.
"This severe penalty could not have been inflicted,
if the rabbis had not represented that Jews were not
permitted to violate the Sabbatical laws in order to
relieve a fellow-man.
"I was therefore obliged to leave a town where so
many persons and objects were dear to me, and where
I had enjoyed that rare happiness of teachers—to
instruct the children of my former pupils. I was
forced to leave two pretty little gardens which I had
gradually raised on desert spots, and the trees which
I had planted at the birth of each of my children.
"I departed; my wife and children followed me
weeping, and the tears of many others comforted me.
"In November, 1837, I arrived in the village of
Main-Stockheim, the place of destination, as the
appointed Jewish teacher of religion. The Jewish
community belonged to the orthodox or pious class.
I was shewn to three small rooms as my residence,
and their gloomy appearance was little calculated to
cheer my mind.
"I observed that this dwelling could not accommodate
myself and family; and begged the Jewish
School-Community (Schulgemeinde) to grant me other
rooms, or else to enlarge these; but it was in vain.
I was obliged to convert the lobby into a dormitory
for my children. The little rooms, owing to their
disproportionate loftiness, were cold and uncomfortable,
and so damp that we had thick ice within, near
the windows. My wife and some of my children fell
sick; and I felt myself obliged, and in duty bound,
to petition the royal land-tribunal for the enlargement
of my dwelling, and my petition was shortly granted.
"But the Jewish Warden appealed to a higher
tribunal, the Government; and when the former
decision was confirmed, they appealed to the Ministerium.
Much time was thus lost, and I obtained at last
an additional room and a cellar.
"My salary was so small that I had to live partly
on my own means; and yet the Jewish School-Community
withheld from me part of the amount of firewood
granted me by law. Out of love of peace, I
offered to relinquish part of the withheld quantity of
wood, if they would but give the rest, so as to obviate
the necessity of complaining to the Government; but I
was forced to complain.
"The suit passed again all the various Courts as
before, and was decided in my favour; the lawful
quantity of wood was to be given me, and for that
which had been unjustly withheld I was to be indemnified.
Although I had declined to accept the
indemnification granted me by law—a refusal very
cheerfully accepted by my rich community—yet they
did not neglect to avenge themselves upon me on the
grounds of piety; being aware that this was the likeliest
way to compass their end. I was accused of
the following sins, which I had actually committed.
"1. That I had not only permitted my female scholars
to come to the synagogue on Saturdays, but had
commanded them to do so, in order to attend to the
religious instructions which I there imparted.
"2. That I had cut my beard in Omer.[24]
"3. That, on one occasion, being called up to the
reading of the Torah, I had appeared with gloves on.
"4. That I kept a Christian servant.
"5. That on the anniversaries of my parents' death, I
did not lead the synagogue service: and,
"6. That, although I would not allow my wife to
use the 'dipping bath' (Tauchbad), I would persist
in giving her my arm.
"They stated that they could no longer suffer a
man among them who was so immoral, so irreligious,
and who excited so much scandal; and since no
Christian court could decide on these Jewish sins, it
was requested that the chief rabbi should be heard,
and that I should be discharged. I replied: and
respecting the last two points on which most stress
seemed to be laid, I observed first, that it had been
my father's dying request that I should neither fast
nor lead the synagogue service on the anniversaries of
my parents' death, as the custom had originated in a
superstition; and, secondly, that according to a
medical testimonial which I laid before the court, my
sick wife had been prohibited from using the 'dipping
bath;' but the decision of the chief rabbi was, that
as I had confessed my wife neglected the bath, while,
at the time, it was proved that she had taken my arm
in walking, I was worthy of death according to Levit.
xx. 18, and must be discharged from my office forthwith.
I protested against this barbarous decision, and
prayed to submit it to another Rabbinat. My petition
was granted, but the rabbi of the district, Mr. L. B.
Bamberger, of Würzburg, declared that he fully
agreed with the chief rabbi, and added that my wife
also was worthy of death.
"In consequence, I was discharged, lost the salary
yet due to me, though the Government had approved of
my official labours, and I was adjudged as having forfeited
even my claim upon the States Institution for the
Relief of Orphans and Widows of German School
Teachers, as well as my right to the 133 florins which
I had already paid into that Institution. With this
bitter experience, and provided with most satisfactory
testimonials from my immediate superiors, I left my
native country, and went with my wife and children to
the free town of Frankfort, where I enjoyed perfect
peace in the capacity of a private tutor. From this brief
sketch it will sufficiently appear that the rabbinical
Jewish religion leads to and justifies the most revolting
injustice and cruelty, a reproach which cannot be
brought against Christianity."
Stern, Joseph Paul, a native of Hungary, where he
had been a teacher and then a merchant, came to
Jerusalem in 1851, at the age of thirty-five. Becoming
ill he was admitted on application to the L.J.S. hospital,
where, one may say, without a shadow of a doubt,
that he was truly converted, and was baptized on
Good Friday of that year. Henceforth he devoted
his life to preach the grace of God as manifested in
Christ Jesus, to his brethren in season and out of
season. He was only a Scripture reader, but few
could resist his entreaties to accept salvation through
Christ, and the Jews feared him as well as respected
him, for he often rewarded them good for evil. In
1860 he visited his relatives in Hungary, when he
preached Christ to them, and escaped being poisoned.
In 1872, when the Rev. A. Bernstein visited him in his
sickness and administered the Holy Communion to
him, he asked to be dressed in his best clothes, for he
expected to go to the marriage of the Lamb. But he
lingered yet for a while and died in 1873, uttering
with his last breath—"Christ is all."
Stern, Maximilian Christian Heinrich, was baptized
by Dr. Poper at Frankfurt, in 1846, when two of his
brothers became Christian preachers in America. He
was then fifty-two years old. His family followed his
example two years later. In 1856 he published
"Die Jüdische Zeitrechnung." He died in 1861.
(See "Jewish Missionary Intelligence," 1846, page
123).
Sternchuss, Rev. P. H., after a course of preparation
in the L.J.S. Missionary Training College, was
sent, together with A. J. Behrens, to open a mission
at Safed in 1843, where they held a daily service and
tried to have intercourse with the fanatical Jews, but
were boycotted by them. In 1844, they were both
ordained in Jerusalem, and Sternchuss accompanied
Stern to Bagdad, whence he itinerated to Mesopotamia,
visiting Hillah and Ezekiel's tomb twice, he also visited
Persia. The trying climate, the galling reproaches
and persecutions, and the hardships which those early
missionaries in the East endured, soon told upon
Sternchuss, so that he had to resign on account of
ill-health in 1850, but continued still for a short time
to labour for the Society in the West of England.
Tartakover, Rev. E. M. Very little information
can be obtained about this servant of Christ, but that
little is most interesting, inasmuch as it embraces a
reflective comment on a long period of Church
history in which Palestine and the Jewish residents
there had no Hebrew Christian minister of the Gospel.
On October 30th, 1842, Tartakover was ordained in
Jerusalem by Bishop Alexander. Such an event as
the ordination of a Jewish convert had not been
witnessed in the Holy City since Apostolic times.
Tomory, Rev. A., after finishing his theological
studies at Edinburgh, was appointed by the Free
Church of Scotland as a missionary at Pesth in 1853.
In 1864 he was transferred to Constantinople, where
he carried on a most faithful and fruitful work, both
evangelistic and educational, during the remainder
of his earthly pilgrimage, and left a worthy memorial in
the home for enquiring Jews which he founded at Galata.
Tremellius, John Immanuel, was born at Ferrara
in 1510; and died at Sedan, October 9th, 1580. He
was educated at the University of Padua, and
baptized in the Roman Catholic Church about 1540,
through the influence of Cardinal Pole, but embraced
Protestantism in the following year, and went to
Strasburg to teach Hebrew. Owing to the wars of
the Reformation in Germany, he was compelled to
seek refuge in England, where he resided at
Lambeth Palace with Archbishop Cranmer in 1547.
In 1549 he succeeded Paul Fagius as Regius Professor
of Hebrew at Cambridge. On the death of Edward
VI. he revisited Germany, and, after some vicissitudes,
became Professor of the Old Testament at Heidelberg
in 1561. He ultimately found a home in the College
of Sedan, where he died. His chief literary work
was a Latin translation of the Bible from the Hebrew
and Syriac. The five parts relating to the Old
Testament were published at Frankfurt between
1575 and 1579; in London in 1580, and in numerous
later editions. Tremellius also translated into
Hebrew Calvin's Catechism (Paris, 1551), and wrote
a Chaldaic and Syriac grammar (Paris, 1569).
Turckheim, Rev. Ernest Julius, had been, at the
age of twenty-one, master of a Jewish school at West
Hartlepool, where he gave great satisfaction to the
parents of the children, so that they wished him to
become their minister. In order that he should be
able conscientiously to discharge his duties,
Turckheim applied himself to a diligent study of
the Old Testament. This in itself made him more
serious than he had been before. Meeting with Mr.
J. Alexander, then agent of the British and Foreign
Bible Society at the Crystal Palace, he received from
him a New Testament, and through reading it earnestly
he became convinced of the truth of Christianity, and
was baptized in 1873. He then studied at the London
College of Divinity, and was ordained at York in
1875-6 to the curacy of St. Thomas there. In 1878
he was curate of All Saints', Derby. In 1879 he became
curate of All Souls', Langham Place, London. In
1882 he was appointed to the living of Hale Magna,
in Lincolnshire, where he did good work until his
death in 1907.
Speaking at the L.J.S. anniversary meeting in 1893,
he said:—"A Jew by birth, a Jew by training and
practice till I was twenty-four years old; a Jew still
by every feeling of national loyalty and sympathy,
I thank God that I can say, nevertheless I am also a
Christian. And it is as a Jew and a Christian I have
responded to your invitation, and am standing here
to-day and make this solemn confession of my faith.
It is due to the grace of God, it is due to the power
of His Word, which is the power of God unto salvation,
unto every one that believeth—to the Jew first.
It is due, I must add, to the patience and forbearance,
to the love and labours, to the life and death, to the
mediation and sufferings for me of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. It is due to the prayers of
God's people, it is due to this Society. It is due to
all of you who labour and pray, and make substantial
sacrifices for the promotion of Christianity amongst
the Jews. It is due that we Christian Jews who have,
by the grace of God, been brought out of Jewish
darkness into the blessed and happy position of
pardoned sinners by the blood of the Cross, that we
should fearlessly declare with no uncertain sound,
that whilst we are Christians by grace, we are still
Jews by nature, by race, and by sympathy, and thus
take a humble part in testifying to the blessed and
everlasting truth that God has not cast away
His people, that there is still a remnant according
to the election of grace. It is twenty years since I
ventured my eternal welfare with Jesus of Nazareth.
After twenty years of mature deliberation and trial,
I once more take my stand beside the Ethiopian
eunuch, and declare to-day, with my heart full of
thankful gladness and humble faith, 'I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' Twenty years, we
must observe, is a period wherein a man can make a
test of a step that he has taken, and I never, never,
for one moment, have wavered in my conviction that
'there is none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved,' than the name of
Jesus Christ."
Vambrey, Hermann, was born in 1832 at Szerdahely,
on the Island Schütt, Hungary. He studied at
Pressburg, especially modern languages, and became
a member of the Reformed Church after his baptism.
At the age of twenty-two he became tutor in a Turkish
family in Constantinople, and later he travelled through
Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia, Turkestan, Bokhara,
Samarkand and the regions of the Oxus. Dressed
as a dervish he passed through all these countries
unhurt, but was often in danger. He then published
his experiences and acquisitions in these journeys, in
the following works: "German-Turkish Dictionary"
(Constantinople, 1858). "Dsagataic Dictionary" (Hungarian),
(Pesth, 1861). "An Etymological Dictionary
of Torkatartaric Languages" (Leipzig, 1877). "The
Russian Power in Asia" (ib., 1871). "Central Asia" and
"Anglo-Russian Relations" (ib. 1873). "Travels in
Central Asia" (ib., 1865). "Sketches from Central Asia"
(ib. 1868). "Wanderings and Experience in Persia"
(1867). "Niguric Linguistic Documents" (Innsbruck,
1870). "History of Bokhara" (Stuttgart, 1872). "Islam
in the 19th Century" (Leipzig, 1875). "Moral Pictures
from the East" (Berlin, 1876); and a number of other
works. He wrote his autobiography under the titles,
"Arminius Vambrey, His Life and Adventures"
(London, 1883), and "Struggles of my Life" (ib., 1894).
Vanorden, Rev. E., a Dutch Jew, who was baptized
by Dr. Ewald in 1863. He afterwards studied for the
ministry in America and was sent as a missionary to
Brazil, where he laboured at San Paulo for many
years.
Venetianer, Pastor A., son of a Jewish rabbi, was
converted through the preaching of the Rev. C. A.
Schönberger. He afterward studied theology in Serftom.
In 1879 he became Pastor in Panseora, Hungary,
and afterwards in Trieste, where he wrote a book
entitled: "Die Evangelische reformite Kirche Cristo
Salvatore zu Triest" (Trieste and Leipzig, 1887); and
also an epistle to Rabbi J. Lichtenstein in Tapio Szele,
entitled "Zum Zeugniss" (Vienna, 1886). Later on
he became Pastor at Rohrbach, South Russia, where
he supported the movement of Rabinowitz.
Vicars, Mrs. Murray, was the daughter of a wealthy
Jewish merchant, and was brought to a knowledge of
the Saviour through her intercourse with a Christian
nurse. Her father, when attending the dedication of
a new synagogue, took cold and became dangerously
ill. His Jewish friends of the synagogue came to
visit him, but were afraid to tell him that he was on
the brink of the grave, and he died soon after. This
brought her serious thoughts and led her to question
the reason why the Jews shrink from mentioning the
subject of death to a sick man. She had afterward
to appear before a Court in reference to the property
which her father had left and to take an oath before the
magistrate. An Old Testament was then handed to
her for that purpose, when she exclaimed before
the whole assembly of Jews and Christians: "The
New Testament is for me." This raised a great
commotion, but having taken this decisive step, she
did not hesitate to become a member of the Church
by baptism. She afterward married the Rev.
Murray Vicars, and went with him to Bagdad to
labour amongst the Jews there. On their journey back
to England on account of ill-health, her husband died
at Marseilles, in 1850, and she settled at Brighton,
where she founded a school for ragged children.
It must be added that her sister, too, embraced
Christianity, and she left three sons, clergymen of the
Church of England, two of them are especially
well known—the Rev. Charles Neil and the Rev.
James Neil. The latter was incumbent of Christ
Church, Mount Zion, from 1871-74.
The maiden name of Mrs. Murray Vicars was
Fanny Phillips; her brother Samuel was a distinguished
man of letters.
Wallfisch, Rev. J. H., was brought to a knowledge
of Christ by Professor Cassel at Breslau, and after his
baptism there he was for a time in the service of the
Free Church of Scotland. He emigrated to the United
States and, joining the Methodist Episcopal Church,
became secretary of the Jewish mission of that body,
founded an "Institutum Judaicum" amongst the
students of the Anglo-German College at Golena,
and received from Milton College the degree of
Doctor of Music.
Weiss, Edward, was converted through the
instrumentality of Dr. Zuckerkandl at Rustschuk,
Bulgaria, in 1869, where he was for some time teacher
in the mission school. On account of the Russo-Turkish
war, he was removed by the British Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Jews
to Vienna, and assisted Salkinson. At least thirty of
his enquirers were baptized there. The rest of his life
was spent in preaching the Gospel at Pressburg, where
he had frequent intercourse with the students of
the Rabbinic Seminary there. He died in 1905.
Wolf, Philipp, D.D., was baptized in 1554. He
wrote "Spiegel der Juden," in which he brings proofs
from Moses and the prophets that Jesus is the
Messiah, and gives information concerning the Jewish
prayers, some of which he quotes in German, and also
in reference to the "Shem Hamphorath," or ineffable
name of God. (Wolff, Bib. Heb. 3 N. 1830 c.)
Wolff, Joseph. The two great missionary explorers
of the nineteenth century were David Livingstone
and Joseph Wolff. The labours of the former were
chiefly confined to Negro races of the "Dark
Continent"; whereas the latter made most extensive
journeys amongst the various remnants of the tribes
of Israel scattered throughout Africa and Asia. The
lives of both these great men touch upon all that is
romantic and of thrilling interest in the wide range
of exploration, and none the less so because they
consecrated themselves to their Master's service, and,
with a consuming zeal for souls, went forth to seek
and to save the lost.
Joseph Wolff was the pioneer missionary to Jews
in the Orient. Like St. Paul, he, too, was "in
journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils
by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the
wilderness." His almost superhuman efforts in the
third and fourth decades of last century cast a halo
of romance around Jewish missions, and laid the
foundation for much subsequent work. Within the
short period of sixteen years we find him visiting
Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Asiatic Turkey,
Persia, India, Bokhara, Abyssinia and Arabia—and
some of these countries more than once. Verily, he
compassed sea and land to make proselytes to the
faith, of which he became such a doughty champion.
The life of this remarkable man naturally falls
into three periods—his early years as a Jew; his
missionary efforts amongst his brethren; and his
last years quietly and uneventfully passed in country
parishes in England. Our chief concern is with the
middle period, to which, however, we can do but
scant justice, as its constant and restless action and
stirring adventures overwhelm us with an embarrassment
of riches.
"Wolff," as he was simply called, after his grandfather,
was born at Weilersbach, a small Bavarian
village, in 1795, or 1796,[25] of Jewish parents, his
father, whose name was David, belonging to the
tribe of Levi. He was the rabbi of the small Jewish
community of the place, numbering fifteen families,
but soon after the birth of his son he removed to
Halle. In his very early years the boy received
a strict Jewish education, and at the age of six
recited the Hebrew prayer-book every day. He
was then sent to a Christian school, but apparently
only to learn German. When Wolff was eleven
years old he was placed at the Protestant Lyceum
at Stuttgart, but growing dissatisfied with it, he
went to reside with his cousin, Moses Cohen, at
Bamberg, and entered the Roman Catholic Lyceum
of that place. He there made up his mind to become
a Christian and a missionary like Francis Xavier.
But he was unsettled in the extreme in his search
after the truth, and wandered to Würzburg,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Halle, Prague, Vienna,
Pressburg, back again to Vienna, Mölk, Munich,
Anspach, Saxe Weimar, Heidelberg, Soleure,
and finally arrived at Prague. There he was baptized
by the Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery Emaus,
in the year 1812, at the age of seventeen, receiving
the name of "Joseph." At his confirmation shortly
afterwards he received the two further names of
"Stanilaus Wenceslaus," which, however, he never
used.
Joseph Wolff was by this time proficient in the
Latin, Persian, Chaldean, and Syriac languages, and
entered the University of Vienna to study Arabic,
Ecclesiastical History, and Divinity. There he
remained two years. In 1814 he resided with Count
Stollberg, and, like every one else, was much
exercised at Napoleon's escape from Elba. In 1815
Wolff entered the Lutheran University of Tübingen
to pursue his studies in Oriental languages and
theology; but he left the next year on a pilgrimage
to Rome, travelling on foot through Switzerland
and Italy until he reached the Eternal City. Being
introduced to Pope Pius VII., he shewed him a
Hebrew Bible which had been the companion of his
travels. Wolff entered the Collegio Romano, and in
1817 the Propaganda, from which his Protestant leanings,
and neglect of scholastic divinity for the Bible,
caused his expulsion in 1818. Wolff now returned
to Vienna, lamenting that his missionary aspirations
had been frustrated. In his distress of mind he
wrote to Hoffbauer, Vicar-General of the Liguorians,
who received him into his monastery. Wolff was
not happy there for more than a few months, and
leaving Vienna, travelled through Austria to the
Benedictine monastery of Krems-Münster, where he
was well received by the monks. Too restless to
remain long in any place, Wolff travelled through
Bavaria, Switzerland, and France, entering first this
monastery and then that. At Paris he met with
Robert Haldane, who exercised a powerful religious
influence over him; and with whom he journeyed to
London.
We naturally find our interest in this talented and
eager youth increasing on his arrival in England, in
1819, at the age of twenty-four, when he came under
the notice of Mr. Henry Drummond, the Rev. Charles
Simeon, the Rev. Lewis Way, and other well-known
friends of Israel. Wolff made his way, as almost
every baptized or enquiring Jew did when first
arriving in this country, to "Palestine Place," the
missionary headquarters of the London Society
for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, where
all were sure of a hearty welcome. He attended the
service in the Episcopal Jews' Chapel, conducted
by the chaplain, the Rev. Charles Sleech Hawtrey,
and, to use his own words, was "enchanted with the
devotion and beauty of the ritual." Henceforth he
considered himself a member of the Church of
England. The Society sent him to Cambridge to be
trained as a missionary, and to study theology under
Simeon (himself of Jewish extraction), and other
Oriental languages under Professor Lee. Two years'
residence there, and a short course at the London
Society's Seminary in Sussex, were sufficient for the
zealous young convert who was longing for active
missionary service abroad. Mr. Drummond sent him
forth on his career. His feverish anxiety to be thus
employed is seen in his selection of the words of
Francis Xavier, "Who would not travel over land and
sea to be instrumental in the salvation of one soul?"
as the motto for the title page of his "Travels."
Wolff left England in April, 1821, and with passing
calls at Gibraltar, and Malta (where he baptized a
Jew) in due time he reached Alexandria. He spent
three months amongst the Jews of that city and of
Cairo, preaching in their synagogues, and distributing
New Testaments. A visit which he paid to the
Convent of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, is interesting
from the fact that the monks promised to pray for
the conversion of the Jews.
Wolff's eyes, however, were fixed on the Holy
City, and his work in Egypt was regarded by himself
as a "preparation for preaching the Gospel of Christ
at Jerusalem." He did so first in the synagogue of
the Karaites; and afterwards made daily efforts for
three or four months to reach the Sephardim,
Ashkenazim and Chassidim, both by word of mouth
and circulation of the Holy Scriptures.
Towards the end of 1822, Wolff visited Antioch
and Aleppo, just before the terrible earthquake
visitation of the latter city, when hundreds of Jews
confessed that the truth of the Gospel could not be
denied. In the spring of 1823 he was again in Egypt
following up his previous work, and going on to
Jerusalem for Easter. His three months' labour
there amongst the Jews, thus described by himself,
"I lodged among them, and was engaged in
preaching the Gospel from morning to night, and
often all night," cleared the way for subsequent
efforts.
In the same year Wolff visited Damascus, where
the Jews eagerly accepted the Arabic Bibles which
he had with him, and Aleppo, where he was again
well received.
Wolff's account of his visit to Bagdad in 1824,
and other cities of Mesopotamia, is most interesting
reading. He seems to have visited the scattered
communities of Jews, amongst all of whom he had
easy access. At Mosul he was shewn a Hebrew
translation of the New Testament which had been
made by a rabbi a hundred years previously. Left
as a precious heirloom to the rabbinical college, it
had remained neglected until Wolff pointed out its
priceless value. At Orfa, the ancient "Ur of the
Chaldees," Wolff found about fifty Jewish families,
and some Jacobites, or Syrian Christians, claiming
to be lineally descended from Jews who received
Christianity through the preaching of St. James at
Jerusalem. Their peculiar ceremonies, as also their
features, gave colour to their claim to be literal as
well as spiritual children of Abraham.
In 1825 Wolff visited the various Jewish communities
of Persia, who, perhaps, have better
grounds than any other people to be regarded as
descendants of the "Lost Ten Tribes." In 1827 and
1828 Wolff visited the Ionian Islands and Asia
Minor. At Smyrna he awakened, as indeed he did
everywhere, a widespread enquiry into Christianity
on the part of the Jews.
Probably the most romantic and thrilling of all
Wolff's experiences were those which he encountered
at Bokhara in 1832. "Adventures to the adventurous"
is a truism, and Wolff was bold and daring
to the last degree, otherwise he would not have
accomplished his purpose. He dressed as a
Turkoman, and so obtained an audience of the king,
when he was denounced as a Russian spy by the
Jews. By his wonderful adroitness he overcame all
opposition, and received permission to evangelize the
Jews, but was forbidden to hold religious converse
with Moslems. He took lodgings at the house of a
Jew, and was visited by his brethren, who asserted
that their forefathers had been carried from Samaria
by the Kings of Assyria and brought to Haran
(Isa. xxxvii. 12), i.e., Bokhara. The three months
spent there by Wolff, especially amongst the learned
class, were fruitful, and he baptized as many as
twenty. These men had all remained faithful when
he visited Bokhara again in 1844. That second
visit, more hazardous even than the first, was made
with the purpose of ascertaining the fate of Colonel
Stoddart and Captain Conolly,—two Englishmen,
who, as subsequently transpired, had been murdered.
Wolff's arrival in the city was witnessed by 20,000
persons shouting "welcome" to the enterprising
traveller, whose costume—gown, hood, and shovel-hat—roused
no small astonishment. Wolff obtained
permission from the king for the Jews to repair their
ancient synagogue.[26]
In 1833 we find Wolff in India, visiting the white
and the black Jews of Cochin, and the Beni-Israel
of Poona, Calcutta and Bombay. This was not
an unexplored field, as the L.J.S. missionaries
had been working there from 1820 to 1830. Wolff
found plenty to do, and at Calcutta, for six successive
days, talked twelve hours on end to all who came
to his "retreat."
Hitherto Asia had been the principal scene of
Wolff's labours, but in 1835 he was in Abyssinia
and in 1836 in Arabia, visiting the Yemen. At
Sanaa he expounded Isaiah liii. to the Jews, and subsequently
baptized four with their families. The
Jews were polygamists, but apparently dissatisfied
with the state of things thus entailed.
Lack of space prohibits us from enlarging on
Wolff's labours in the East. His own descriptions
remain to this day the most entertaining of missionary
annals, and bear witness to the wonderful activity
of the man whose striking personality, not unmixed
with a harmless and naive egotism, carried him
through numberless dangers, and extricated him from
perilous situations. The restlessness of his nature,
which in early life impelled him to wander over
Europe in search of light and learning, developed in
succeeding years into that consecrated fiery energy
and impulse which made him so peculiarly fitted to
play the rôle of pioneer missionary. Many of his
friends, as he said, "believed him to be Elijah,"
though he archly added, "he always believed himself
to be Joseph Wolff!" But a pioneer he was in every
sense of the word, and as such rendered yeoman
service to a cause, which more than all others,
perhaps, needs all the glamour and romance it can
call to its aid. So great was his dramatic power
in describing his travels that Archbishop Whately
proclaimed him to be "a missionary Shakespeare."
Wolff had an iron constitution and a powerful
frame, absolutely impervious to matters of climate,
and privations, however severe and enduring. He
records that, when travelling in India in 1832, he was
stripped of everything, and in danger of being "made
into sausages," and "had to walk without a rag of
clothing on for 600 miles from the Hindu Koosh to
the Punjaub, through storms and snow!" He was
relieved and clothed at Cabul by Lieutenant Burnes.
Wolff's character, wonderful activity, and resources,
were thus caustically summed up by one who knew
him:—
"He appears to me to be a comet without any
perihelion, and capable of setting a whole system on
fire. When I should have addressed him in Syria, I
heard of him at Malta, and when I supposed he was
gone to England, he was riding like a ruling angel
in the whirlwinds of Antioch, or standing unappalled
among the crumbling towers of Aleppo. A man who
at Rome calls the Pope 'the dust of the earth,' and
at Jerusalem tells the Jews that the 'Gemara is a
lie'; who passes his days in disputation, and his
nights in digging in the Talmud; to whom a floor of
brick is a feather-bed and a box is a bolster; who
makes or finds a friend alike in the persecutor of his
former or of his present faith; who can conciliate a
Pasha or confute a patriarch; who travels without a
guide, speaks without an interpreter, can live without
food, and pay without money, forgiving all the insults
he meets with, and forgetting all the flattery he
receives; who knows little of worldly conduct, and
yet accommodates himself to all men without giving
offence to any—such a man (and such and more is
Wolff) must excite no ordinary degree of attention in
a country and among a people whose monotony of
manners and habits has remained undisturbed for
centuries. As a pioneer I deem him matchless,
aut inveniet viam, aut faciet; but, if order is to be
established or arrangements made, trouble not Wolff.
He knows of no church but his heart, no calling but
that of zeal, no dispensation but that of preaching.
He is devoid of enmity towards man, and full of the
love of God. By such an instrument, whom no
school hath taught, whom no college could hold, is
the way of the Judæan wilderness preparing....
Thus are his brethren provoked to emulation and
stirred up to inquiry. They all perceive, as everyone
must, that whatever he is, he is in earnest; they
acknowledge him to be a sincere believer in Jesus of
Nazareth, and that is a great point gained with them,
for the mass of the ignorant and unconverted
Jews deny the possibility of real conversion from
Judaism."[27]
General Sir Charles Napier said that Wolff had
"worked harder for religion, and had gone through
more dangers for it, with a brave heart, than any man
living."
Of his life in England as a parochial clergyman,
but little can be said in this biography. He married,
when a young man, the daughter of the Earl of
Orford, Lady Georgiana Walpole, with whom he
lived happily for thirty years, and whose son was Sir
Henry Drummond Wolff. When he settled in
England, he became vicar of Linthwaite, a small
village in Yorkshire. His friend, Henry Drummond,
after whom he had named his son, wrote, "Your call
is to be an evangelist for all the nations of the earth,
and for this you are fit; but, to use your own simile,
you are as fit for a parish priest as I am for a dancing-master."
Wolff shortly afterwards removed, on
account of his wife's health, to the sole charge of High
Hoyland, another Yorkshire village, with about 120
souls. There, too, he must have felt like a lion in a
cage; and when, five years later, he resigned his
charge on the ground of not being able to meet his
expenses, and undertook his second journey to
Bokhara, he must indeed have rejoiced in an aftermath
of the freedom and action of his earlier career.
One little incident is too good to be omitted. Before
Wolff entered upon the curacy, his predecessor,
doubting the sentiments of his successor, preached
his farewell sermon from the text, "After my
departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you."
Wolff remarks, "However, he was very merciful, and
made no allusion to the coming 'Wolff' in his
sermon!"
On his return from Bokhara, Wolff was appointed
to the living of Isle-Brewers, in Somersetshire, with
a population of 300, amongst whom were two farmers,
all the rest being peasants. There Wolff remained
for the remainder of his life, his talents and brilliant
gifts being wasted in such retirement, but his energy
knowing no diminution. He built a new parsonage
and schools, defraying a portion of the expense from
the proceeds of his works and lectures; and erected
a new church, for the cost of which he laid all his
numerous friends and everybody else, under contribution
by incessant correspondence and personal
applications. He was a father to his poor, and every
winter supported thirty-five families with the necessities
of life. Wolff was the neighbour and firm friend of
George Anthony Denison, "dearer to him than any,"
although theologically in the opposite camp. Amongst
Wolff's other numerous friends and acquaintances,
we may mention the names of Sir Walter Scott,
Dean Stanley, Dean Hook, Alfred Tennyson, and
Alfred and Margaret Gatty.
Wolff died in 1862, at the age of 66 or 67 years—a
long life, when the restless activity of brain and
body is taken into account, and a full life, in every
sense of the word. He exemplified in his person the
saying, "It is better to wear out than to rust out."
And his epitaph might well have been, "The zeal of
Thine house hath eaten me up."
Wolff, Oscar Ludwig Bernard, was born in
Altona, 1799. After embracing Christianity (the date
uncertain) he held the professorship of modern
languages and literature successively at Weimar and
at Jena, where he died in 1851. His literary works
appeared at Jena in 1841-43 in fourteen volumes. The
best known of his works are "Poetischer Hausschatz des
Deutschen Volkes" (Leipzig, 1839); "Hausschatz
Deutscher Prosa" (ib., 1855) and "Geschichte des
Deutschen Romans," Jena 1843.
Wolkenberg, Rev. Marcus. Mordecai Wolkenberg
(for such was his Jewish name) was born in
1834 in Russian Poland. When quite young he was
smuggled over the border into Galicia (Austrian
Poland) to avoid being Christianized and trained for
military service, it often being the custom in the time
of the Emperor Nicholas I. to seize Jewish lads for
those ends. Mordecai was placed by his parents with
pious and orthodox relatives at Brody, where he
gained the interest of the famous rabbi of the town,
Salomon Kluger, and through his teaching soon
acquired a good Hebrew and Talmudical education.
When quite a young man he was appointed tutor in
the home of the rich banker Cahner at Jassy, where
he remained about two years. During his stay there
he made the acquaintance of the Rev. W. Mayer, the
L.J.S. missionary. After a time of great heart-searching
and deep spiritual experience, he was led to
embrace the Christian faith, and was baptized.
Thereupon he had to pass through a period of bitter
trial and persecution, instigated chiefly by his
employer. His occupation had brought him in
contact with many people. All these forsook him
when he made his public confession of Christianity.
At length he had to leave Jassy, and, after a while,
Marcus (as his name now was) went to the Malta
Protestant College; later on he came to London,
when he read theology with the Rev. A. S. Thelwall.
In 1863 he was appointed an assistant missionary
at Jassy. This was a great trial to his feelings and
faith, for it was there that he first found Christ, and
there, in consequence, that he had first tasted the
venom of religious hatred. Here, however, to his
surprise, he was sought for and visited by numbers of
his former acquaintances. A wide door, and effectual,
was thus opened to him, one result of years of
patient school and other missionary work by those
who had long laboured in Jassy. Of this circumstance
he says: "Most of these visitors were teachers, some
merchants, and others near relatives of one of the
wealthiest Jews here. Nor has the bold proclamation of
the truth, on my part, deterred them from continuing
their intercourse with me." For seven years he thus
worked in Jassy and in Bacau for Christ, and with much
blessing. In 1870, owing to the illness of his wife, he
had to return to England; where he laboured
successively in London, Manchester, Birmingham,
and lastly in Liverpool, where he died April 17th,
1900, very much regretted by all who knew him, and
not least by many Jews, who spoke in the highest
terms of his goodness, piety, and scholarship.
Xeres, Jonah ben Jacob, was a native of North Africa,
where he came in contact with English Christian
merchants and learned the truth as it is in Jesus from
them. In 1707 he came to London and was instructed
and baptized by Dr. Allix in 1709. He then
wrote an "Address to the Jews," containing his reasons
for leaving the Jewish and embracing the Christian
religion. (See Wolff Bib. Heb., 14, N. 823.)
The book is dedicated to the then Archbishop of
York (in 1709), and prefaced by an attestation to the
respectability of the author by seven London
merchants, and another by the learned Dr. Allix.
"We, whose names are underwritten, merchants
trading into Barbary in Africa, do hereby certify, all
whom it may concern, that we, each of us, having
formerly lived for several years in those parts, did
then, as we do now, personally know Jonah ben
Jacob Xeres, who was born in Saphia, a sea-port
town on that coast. His parents, being Hebrews,
were reputed to be honest and substantial people;
who employed much care in educating this their son,
Jonah, in the Jewish religion, and no less expense in
instructing him in the Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldean
tongues. He the said Jonah lived in that country a
professed Jew, till the age of five and twenty, or
thereabouts; and always behaved himself sober in
his conversation, and no less just in his dealing, as
some of us have experienced, having had occasion to
employ him on several accounts, whereby, amongst
other conversation, he had an opportunity of
discoursing with some in our factory about matters of
religion; and, as he now informs us, was thereby
possessed with some notion, that the Messiah had
already come; whereby, being uneasy under such a
weighty doubt, he came over to England about
eighteen months ago, in order to acquire a full
satisfaction. After some time here, he applied
himself to some of us to recommend him to some
learned Divine for information; whereupon he was
sent to the Rev. Dr. Allix, on whom some of us have
since waited, who, requesting of us a character of the
said Jonah, is the occasion of this paper, which we do
in all respects believe to be true, and have a very good
opinion of the probity and sincerity of the above-mentioned
Jonah; and that we trust upon his
examination, he will prove to the judgment of the
Most Reverend the Archbishops, the Right Reverend
the Bishops, the Reverend the Clergy, and all other
pious Christians, to whom we recommend him,
&c.
"Done at London, this eight and twentieth day of
May, one thousand seven hundred and nine.
"Peter Fleuriot, Samuel Robinson, John Lodington,
John Adams, Val. Norton, Robert Colmore, Thomas
Coleman."
"These are to certify, that upon several discourses
had with the aforementioned Jonah ben Jacob
Xeres, I have found him very well acquainted with
the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, and all
other Jewish and particularly Talmudical learning;
so that he was very ready, upon the chief objections
that Jews make to the doctrine, deity, and office of
our Saviour. But, as he is endowed with very good
natural and acquired parts, I was the more able to
satisfy and convince him of the truth; so that, after
having examined by Scripture all the most material
controversies, he hath freely declared to myself, and
his other friends, his desire to renounce the errors
and prejudices of his education in the Jewish religion,
and to embrace and profess the Christian faith.
"Witness my hand this 30th day of July, 1709.
"Peter Allix, D.D."
Zabanski, J., was born at Minsk in Lithuania.
His father, a bigoted Talmudist, sent him once on an
errand to a Christian nobleman, who made him a present
of a Hebrew New Testament which, on coming home,
he innocently enough shewed his father, and was
peremptorily told to take it back. This excited in
him the curiosity to know the contents of the book,
and he soon procured one. Detected in reading it, he
was punished by his father more than once, and at last
the father got the police to give him twenty-five strokes
with a rod for disobedience. The consequence was
that he got ill and had to be taken to a hospital.
After being there nine weeks, he ran away, obtained a
situation as a teacher in a family for three years,
where he got possession of a German New Testament
and Dr. McCaul's "Old Paths." He then returned
to his father and asked his permission to go abroad.
As this was not granted, he again ran away, and this
time to Constantinople, where he heard the Gospel
from a missionary named Goldberg. Thence he went
to Jerusalem, and was admitted by Hershon into
the House of Industry. His countrymen there, who
knew his father as a learned Talmudist, tried every
means to snatch him away from the Mission. They
even went to Rachel's grave to pray for his return
to Judaism, and finally sent two Jews to his father
to come and fetch him, but Zabanski became a
Christian and laboured afterwards as a missionary
of the L.J.S. from 1864 to 1867, and for a long period as
an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
in Bulgaria.
Zeckhausen, Rev. Leopold. The following is
from his own pen:—
"I was born in December, 1862, at Kovno in Russia,
of strictly orthodox Jewish parents, and, with the
rest of my brothers, I got the usual education of
rabbinical Jews. My mother, like so many mothers
in Israel, would fain have seen me devoting myself
entirely to the Talmud. I was to be the rabbi of the
family. My inclinations, however, were in the
direction of secular knowledge, and my father was
broad-minded enough not to insist upon an exclusively
rabbinical training. At the age of eleven I was
accordingly sent to the local Gymnasium, or
grammar school. After a stay of six years at this
school I left Russia with the intention of studying
medicine at the University of Koenigsberg in Prussia.
But six months later financial difficulties, in which
my father found himself, necessitated my dropping
the studies and accepting a post offered me in an
office (July, 1881.)
"Once in business I threw myself heart and soul
into my new vocation, and kept on rising steadily.
At the end of ten years spent in business houses in
Koenigsberg, Frankfort and Amsterdam, I was
offered a partnership at Libau in Russia. I declined
it, however, after some deliberation, and decided to
leave business for good (1891).
"That step was the outcome of another and a more
important one, which I had taken three years
previously, and which proved to be the turning point
of my life. While still at my father's house I had begun
to get weary of the endless, and often meaningless
ceremonies of rabbinical Judaism. In Germany and
Holland, surrounded by general religious indifference
and rampant scepticism, my faith in Judaism waned
more and more. I tried to make myself acquainted
with Christianity, assayed to study the New
Testament, but not with the hope of finding in it truth
and peace. My studies were mostly of a critical
nature. My Jewish prejudices, though largely toned
down by frequent intercourse with Christians, were
still potent enough to prevent an impartial
investigation. The difficulties of the Gospels seemed
to me insuperable. So I continued to drift further
and further away from religious influences, until at
Amsterdam I found myself at a boarding house
in the company of some earnest Christian young men.
They were schoolmasters—intelligent, idealistic,
eager to learn and to exchange thoughts with others,
and before very long we were on friendly terms.
Through their intercourse, the almost extinguished
interest for religious thought once more revived in
me. Not that we ever went in for regular theological
discussions—mere politeness forbade that—but
Dante's 'Inferno,' Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' and other
literary productions with a religious basis, were often
talked over among us, and I could not help being
impressed by the true, though unobtrusive, religious
fervour of those educated young men.
"I decided to look for a person competent to deal
with my prejudices and willing to assist me to a spiritual
understanding of Christianity. An Encyclopædia
helped to the address of the London Society for
Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, and a letter
from the Secretary introduced me to the Society's
missionary at Amsterdam, the Rev. A. C. Adler. I told
that gentleman, on my first visit to him, that it was not
so much the history of Christ and Christianity as the
spiritual element of the New Testament that baffled
me, and that I should feel obliged to him for some
light upon the subject. I did not pretend to any
desire of embracing Christianity, nor did Mr.
Adler, on his part, so much as hint at that eventuality.
He most readily acceded to my request for
enlightenment, and suggested that we should read
together the Gospel of St. John. For some seven
weeks I had the little expected pleasure of listening
to a masterly exposition of a book that had been
till then the least intelligible one to me in the New
Testament. I shall never forget the impression
Mr. Adler's intelligent interpretation of that Gospel
produced upon my mind and heart. I felt myself
literally introduced into a new world—into that
spiritual world of which the carnal mind and the
materialist know nothing. The person of Christ kept
on growing before and within me until I could think
of nothing else. But I was not to yield myself to
Him without a struggle.
"Mr. Adler, with an unerring tact, restricted
himself conscientiously to the task of instruction.
He asked no questions, nor did he invite me to a
confession of faith. Had he done so, I fear he had
but succeeded in repelling me, at least for a time.
"When I found myself face to face with the
question:—'What think you now of Christ?'—pride
of reason and lingering prejudice seemed to
assert themselves more. I at once suddenly ceased
visiting Mr. Adler and thought of getting Christianity
out of my head entirely. I cannot tell whether Mr.
Adler still entertained the hope of ever seeing me
again in his study; I certainly intended that it should
not be the case.
"The Lord Jesus, however, had become too strong
for me to resist Him successfully for any length of
time. My peace of mind was clean gone, and I had,
for my own part, experienced the truth of our Lord's
words, 'No man can come to Me, except the Father
which hath sent Me, draw him.'
"After a time I was again at Mr. Adler's. When,
in answer to my knock there came his Dutch
'Binnen!' ('Come in!'), and I stepped into the room,
Mr. Adler came hurriedly up to meet me, and,
taking both my hands, exclaimed joyfully, 'You have
come again. Then all is right. I knew you would
not come unless your doubts were conquered. I have
been praying for that.'
"A few days after this episode I received a
telegraphic message necessitating my immediate
return to Germany. I took at once a train to
Zandvoort, a seaside place near Amsterdam, where
Mr. Adler was at the time with his family for their
summer holiday. I told him I had to leave Holland
without delay and requested, as a special favour,
that he would admit me into the Church of Christ
by baptism the very next day. Mr. Adler looked
rather perplexed. He was, on principle, he told me,
opposed to doing things in a hurry, and especially
when baptism was under consideration. But my case
was so exceptional that he thought he saw in it the
Lord's doing, and could not therefore refuse my
request.
"The following morning, Sunday, August 12th,
1888, Mr. Adler was in the pulpit of his church,
after explaining the reason of his unexpected return to
Amsterdam, he invited the congregation to be present
at my baptism that afternoon. Saintly old Mr. Bloch,
late missionary of the L.J.S., and the beadle of
the church, acted as witnesses to my public declaration
of faith in Christ crucified.
"On the day following my baptism I had already
left Holland, and was on my way back to
Koenigsberg. There I spent another three years,
following my commercial vocation and keeping up all
along a pretty regular correspondence with Mr. Adler,
to whose instruction I owed so much. In those letters
he frequently reminded me of my Christian duty
toward my Jewish brethren, and invited me to offer
myself for missionary training. I doubted my qualifications
for such a calling, questioned the advisability
of going back to college after an interval of ten years
spent in commercial pursuits, but at last I decided
to follow the call, and sent an application to London
for admission into the London Jews' Society's
Missionary College. I was admitted there in December,
1891, and remained associated with the Institution
for three years and a-half, till July, 1895.
"Having completed the course of my studies, I was
attached to the staff of the London Mission, thence
I was transferred to work at Manchester in 1896, and
exactly three years later to Jerusalem. Here I was
ordained deacon at Christmas, 1900, and priest on
Trinity Sunday, 1902, by the Bishop of the Church
of England in Jerusalem and the East, Dr. Blyth.
Here also I was married to Miss Sara Jane Ellison,
daughter of the late Dean Ellison, of Shillelagh,
County Wicklow, Ireland, April, 1901.
"I may be allowed to mention in conclusion that
the decision to give up my business prospects, in
order to become a missionary to the Jews, was soon
amply rewarded by the Lord. My elder brother,
with whom I had exchanged many letters on the
subject of Christianity ever since I had embraced it
myself, without apparently making much impression
on him, wrote to me now—having heard of the step I
had taken—to express his appreciation of what I had
done. 'Whatsoever people may think of your motives
or your actions, there is probably no one that can put
them down at their proper value better than myself,'
ran his note. 'I have seen you during the last ten
years steadily climbing the ladder of commercial
success, gaining in experience and reputation, and
about to earn the fruit of much labour, and then to
throw it all deliberately over in order to become a
missionary! I cannot help admiring you. You have
done the right and proper thing. Though we differ
in our religious opinions, we do not on the point of
principle. You have acted as I should have expected
an honest man, with soul above £ s. d. to act. It
is refreshing to find enthusiasm for ideal goods in our
sordid age of materialism.'
"This brother of mine is now, I am grateful to say,
himself a worker in the Lord's vineyard, labouring
with marked success as a medical missionary amongst
the Jews of New York, faithfully assisted by his
wife—also a convert from Judaism."
In 1902 the Rev. L. and Mrs. Zeckhausen were
transferred from Jerusalem to Cracow; and in 1908,
on the death of his spiritual father, the Rev. A. C.
Adler, he succeeded to the headship of the L.J.S.
mission at Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
Zuckerkandle, Dr., and his wife were converted and
baptized in Pesth through the instrumentality of the
Rev. William Wingate. He was afterwards a missionary
of the L.J.S. in Bucharest, and later on he entered the
service of the British Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel among the Jews and conducted a school
at Rustschuk in Bulgaria, where he died in 1874.
The widow came then to London, and laboured
amongst the Jewesses in Spitalfields for many years
with great blessing upon her work of love. She was
probably the first to organize a Jewish mothers'
meeting.
Zuckertort, G. J., father of the famous chessplayer,
was won for Christ through the preaching of the
L.J.S. missionary Wendt, and was baptized by him in
1831. In 1836 he was appointed assistant missionary
at Lublin, where he preached the Gospel to his own
relations, one of whom, a thriving medical doctor of
the same name, confessed Christ and was baptized
with his four children in 1845, and his wife later, in
1849.
Inconsistencies in spelling have been resolved in cases where it was possible
to divine the author's intent with a reasonable degree of
certainty. Otherwise variable spellings (such as Leipzig, Leipsig and
Leipsic) have been retained.
Page 118 There is a discrepancy in date of birth.
Quote: Bernhardy, Dr.
Gottfried, born in Landsburg, 1860, died 1875 ... wrote "Syntax of the
Greek Language," Berlin, 1829. "Grundriss der Romischen Literatur,"
1830. "Grundlinien der Encyclopaedia der Philologie," 1832, &c.
Other
sources say he was born March 20, 1800.
Page 406 Replaced "when" with "where". "In 1863 he retired to Berlin, when he died in 1870."
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